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CEOs to Obama: You still don't get it

CEOs to Obama: You still don't get it
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CEOs to Obama: You still don't get it

President Barack Obama had a sharp rebuke for corporate leadership on Sunday, telling The Economist that chief executives "don't have a right" to complain about regulations. During interviews with CNBC, however, a trio of current and former CEOs had an equally sharp response.

Appearing on CNBC's "Squawk Box," AutoNation CEO Mike Jackson said Monday that the Obama administration should have enacted important reforms—spanning immigration, taxes and entitlements—before Republications took control of the House of Representatives, Jackson said.

That would have added millions more jobs to an otherwise "anemic" economic recovery, he added.

"The president's statement just confirms, unfortunately, that he still doesn't get it," Jackson said.

Read MoreObama says CEOs should quit complaining: Economist

Bill George, the former CEO of Medtronic, also had strong words for the president, calling into question his leadership abilities.

"The president is not leading this days," George said during an interview with "Squawk on the Street," ...and he's attacking on all sides."

Steve Odland, the current CEO of the Committee for Economic Development, told CNBC the gridlock in Washington and increasing number of regulations have cast a cloud of uncertainty over the business community. That causes companies to hoard cash, he added.

"These uncertainties cause businesses to hedge, and the hedge is to cash," Odland said on "Squawk on the Street." "That cash is not being invested."

—By CNBC's Jeff Morganteen