President Obama's former economic adviser said Sunday that the president should "have a mea culpa" over the bitter tone in Washington, noting that the partisanship today does not live up to the coming-together message of the 2008 campaign. 

Austan Goolsbee, former head of the Council of Economic Advisers, addressed that tone during a discussion on ABC's "This Week" about tackling America's fiscal crisis. 

He said he agreed when political analyst Matthew Dowd said it's time for Obama to reset the debate with a "mea culpa" over polarization in Washington. 

"The president should have a mea culpa," Goolsbee said, "that we have gotten into a place that was very different from what the campaign wanted it to be from 2008 ... and, look, I think you could blame more the Republicans, but I'm sure the Republicans would say more you blame the president." 

He said the country has "got to back away from that."