We listened with interest and some amusement this week as retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Silicon Valley technology executive Carly Fiorina announced they are seeking the Republican nomination for president.

Without a doubt, both Dr. Carson and Ms. Fiorina have excelled in their fields.

Dr. Carson has gained international acclaim for his surgical skills performing miracles, particularly in separating conjoined twins. His memoir, “Gifted Hands,” detailing his transformation from a troubled youth in Detroit to director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore at age 33 is an inspiring read.

Ms. Fiorina, an Austin, Texas, native, took a while to find herself as well. She dropped out of law school, worked in real estate and taught English before returning to school to earn a master’s degree in management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and then entering the tech world. Her climb was meteoric. By 1999, she was named chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, and was named among the world’s 100 most powerful women by Forbes in 2004. Ms. Fiorina later was fired when the company lost half its stock value and laid off 30,000 workers after a merger with computer rival Compaq.

But super performance in the operating room and the boardroom don’t guarantee success in the realm of politics, or in running the country. Neither has held political office or been held accountable for their actions and decisions by groups larger than a hospital board or a group of stockholders.

Yes, Dr. Carson and Ms. Fiorina indeed stand out. Dr. Carson is the only African- American and Ms. Fiorina is the only woman in the Republican race toward the 2016 presidential election. They draw interesting, if unfortunate, comparison to President Obama, the nation’s first African-American president and Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.

But what stands out more than race, gender or any wild comparison is their greenhorn comments and novice performances thus far.

Dr. Carson keeps tripping over his misplaced positions on gay issues. Already, he has apologized for saying that being gay is a choice and pointing to as proof that people go into prison straight and come out gay.

Earlier this week, he claimed that the federal government only has to follow laws passed by the legislative branch and not the judicial branch. Thus, he reasoned, the executive branch can ignore any U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage.

Huh?

When Ms. Fiorina was asked by Katie Couric if she would consider running for vice president if she doesn’t get the GOP nod, she blasted the veteran journalist, saying: “Would you ask a male candidate that?”

Well, if Ms. Fiorina had been tuned into presidential contests for the last 20 years or so, she would know that question often is posed to men who have thrown their hats into the presidential ring.

While it is entertaining to have “untraditional candidates,” as Dr. Carson and Ms. Fiorina are called, in the presidential race, they have many hurdles to jump if they are to be taken seriously in an already crowded field of much more experienced candidates vying for the GOP presidential nod