The U.S. president appears on The View in New York with from left, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, Joy Behar, Sherri Shepherd and Elisabeth Hasselbeck. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press)

U.S. President Barack Obama mounted a spirited defence of his first 20 months in office Thursday on the popular daytime talk show The View.

He effortlessly charmed the show's five female hosts with self-deprecating humour, saying he came on the program because he was "trying to find a show that [his wife] Michelle actually watched."

Obama has been on The View twice before, once during his election campaign.

Critics are calling the appearance a desperate move to reverse his own slide in the polls as mid-term elections approach by wooing a huge audience of middle-aged, working-class women.

It was the first appearance on a daytime talk show by a sitting president, and Obama took the chance to directly address criticisms against his administration.

Obama listed what he considered his administration's major accomplishments — among them health-care reform, educational reform, a new direction in energy policy and the environment and new financial regulations.

Obama said the country was losing 750,000 jobs a month when he took office, but that now there has been five months of job creation from the private sector.

The policies his administration put in place have averted what could have been a severe depression, he said.

"What has been gratifying is seeing the economy is stabilizing and growing again and seeing how resilient the American people are," he said.

Obama said he understood the frustration of jobless Americans, but he was optimistic the economy was on the rebound.

"You're right that it's not enough. If you don't have a job then the only answer you want to hear is I'm hired," he said.

He fielded questions on race relations, on Afghanistan and on the economy, as well as on pop culture. He admitted he and his wife had not been invited to Chelsea Clinton's wedding, saying "One president is probably enough."

Questioned by Barbara Walters about this week's WikiLeaks release of documents about the war in Afghanistan, Obama said the leaks actually reinforce his message that more resources must go to the Afghan war.

'What we need is a stable Afghanistan and a Pakistan that is not a haven for terrorists.'— U.S. President Barack Obama

"When I came into office, I was explicit. We need to get out of Iraq and we need to focus on the war in Afghanistan," he said.

The leaked war logs underline that if the U.S. pulled out now, Afghanistan might end up run by warlords and with no functioning government, Obama said.

"What we need is a stable Afghanistan and a Pakistan that is not a haven for terrorists," he said.

Obama blamed his dip in the polls and the vitriolic treatment he gets in some media on a media culture that loves conflict.

"A story about two parties working in co-operation barely gets covered," he said. "The American people would rather have a civil debate, but that's not what they're hearing."

"We have a 24/7 media cycle that's always looking for controversy and doesn't get the facts first."

Obama called the ouster of black Agriculture Department official Shirley Sherrod a "phony controversy" generated by the media.

He said his administration made a mistake when it forced her out after a conservative website posted an edited video of her speaking about race.

When the full version of her remarks was revealed, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack apologized and offered Sherrod a new job.

"There are still inequalities out there," Obama said on the race question. "There's still discrimination out there, but we've made progress."