The US president recorded an appearance on ABC's The View, which is to be aired in full later.

The show is presented by a panel including veteran journalist Barbara Walters and actress Whoopi Goldberg.

In brief excerpts released by ABC, Mr Obama reflected on a difficult past 20 months, joking: "Where do I begin here?"

The challenges included "a non-stop effort to restart the economy, we have also had the oil spill, we have also had two wars, we have also had a pandemic - H1N1 that we had to manage", he said.

But Mr Obama said he was gratified to see the economy growing again.

He continued that, despite getting criticised by pundits, the plight of the American people was what mattered.

"I don't spend a lot of time worrying about me, I spend a lot of time worrying about them," he said.

On a lighter note, the president also praised his daughters Malia, 12, and Sasha, nine, saying they were "full of ideas, and opinions and observations - it's just a great age".

Mr Obama earlier held an event at a sandwich store in New Jersey to promote his plan for small businesses.