WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is defending his economic policies from those who say they haven't done enough to help the middle class, and from those who say he is anti-business.

At a CNBC town hall forum at Washington's Newseum on Monday, Obama heard from a working mother who said she's still waiting for the change that Obama had promised — and who feared that she and her family were headed for a return to the "hot dogs and beans era.

Obama responded that everything is not "where it needs to be," but that the nation is "moving in the right direction.

As for criticism that his policies are anti-business, Obama said they've helped businesses be profitable, and stabilized financial markets.