Holtz-Eakin on the GOP

In 2008, Douglas Holtz-Eakin was John McCain’s top economic adviser in the national presidential campaign.
In 2009, Holtz-Eakin is on the outside looking in at the Obama administration’s economic push — and looking around at his own party, the GOP, in disarray.
He’s raising alarms about the big deficits that have come with big stimulus. And he’s warning the GOP not to circle the wagons but to open up and engage with people and issues some would rather ignore.
This hour, On Point: Republican thinker Douglas Holtz-Eakin on Obama and the GOP’s future.
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Douglas Holtz-Eakin joins us from Washington. He was director of the Congressional Budget Office from 2003 to 2005, and won respect in that role from initially skeptical Democrats. He served in top roles at the Council of Economic Advisors under Presidents George W. and George H.W. Bush, and he was chief economic advisor to the McCain-Palin campaign last year. Now he’s working to start up a new GOP think tank in Washington.

More links:

Here's Holtz-Eakin's recent take on healthcare reform. Congressional Quarterly profiled him and explored his ideas about GOP reform. And Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic looks at the debate over Holtz-Eakin's new conservative think tank idea.  You can also read his blog posts at The New Majority.