CNBC senior contributor Larry Kudlow, a Moneynews Insider, wasn't too impressed with President Obama's press conference Wednesday in which he pledged to work with Republicans where possible.

"I don't think the president recognizes or wishes to admit that the votes [Tuesday] were for a change in direction of economic policy, of healthcare policy, of immigration policy, of all the policies," Kudlow said on the air.

"I also think, even though I'm an immigration reform guy if it's done right, if he goes ahead and uses executive action to legalize and deport and whatever, he is going to create such a rat's nest of arguments and screaming. It will block out any hope of deals, and he knows that."

In his press conference, Obama, said he's happy to compromise on trade agreements and infrastructure spending. But he said he will act unilaterally on immigration reform, fulfilling his pre-election promise.

"Before the end of the year, we're going to take whatever lawful action that I can take that I believe will improve the functioning of our immigration system that will allow us to surge additional resources to the border," he said.

"I am eager to see what they [Republicans] have to offer, but what I'm not going to do is just wait."

Meanwhile, business leaders expressed cautious optimism that the election results will advance their agenda.

"There is a pent-up demand for legislative action, and there was a logjam because of the campaign," Bill Miller, senior vice president of the Business Roundtable, told The New York Times.

"The three issues we've got teed up now are corporate tax reform, then immigration reform, as well as getting new trade agreements passed."

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