Presidential Pop Psychology

At The Debate, moderator Jim Lehrer at times seemed to be a marriage counselor, urging Barack Obama and John McCain to address each other directly and express their feelings, and now the candidates are accusing each other of being in denial about the financial crisis.

McCain tells voters that "Senator Obama still sees the financial crisis in America as a national problem to be exploited first and solved later." Obama responds, “What he doesn’t seem to get is that if we don’t deal with it right now, by working together for the common good, then this crisis could turn into a far-reaching disaster for workers, businesses, retirees and the American middle class."

As in most bad relationships, there is a breakdown of communication. At Friday night's session, McCain seemed too angry to even look at Obama, let alone talk to him, as his partner tried to cajole him in finding something to agree on.

The remaining debates will be moderated by network elders, Bob Schieffer of CBS and NBC's Tom Brokaw, both of them patient and kindly, but the way things are going, they might want to have Dr. Phil to help the warring couple deal with the "unfinished business of anger, resentment and hurt."

Psychologically, there is no use trying to do anything about the Palin-Biden pairing, a mismatch if there ever was one.