Obama: Times still hard for millions out of work

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said Monday he doesn't care that the Great Recession has been declared over by a group of economists.

For the millions of people who are out of work or otherwise struggling, he said, "it's still very real for them." Obama denied that he was anti-business or anti-Wall Street in his economic proposals, commenting under close questioning during a town hall-style meeting broadcast live on CNBC.

He offered a mixed verdict on the growing tea party movement, calling its skepticism of government "healthy . . . That's in our DNA, right?" But, he added, "The challenge for the tea party movement is to identify specifically 'What would you do?' " to help turn around the economy and produce jobs.

CNBC's John Harwood, the moderator, asked Obama if he had any plans to replace his two top economic advisers - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and chief economic adviser Lawrence Summers. House Republican leader John Boehner has called for Obama to fire both of them, contending their economic advice to him has not been helpful.

Obama sidestepped a direct answer but said, "This is tough work that they do." "We're constantly asking, 'Is what we're doing working as well as it could?' " - AP