Affirmative Action?

So anytime a black person succeeds it's as a result of affirmative action? We all agree that Obama got favorable press coverage--is that what you count as affirmative action? Columbia and Harvard had to let him in because he's black? You think he won the Democratic nomination--over a woman--because of affirmative action? He also beat a woman in the general election. Where's the affirmative action here?

Whatever you think about his politics, Obama clearly has a transcendent intellect. And he earned his victories over both Clinton and McCain by being smarter and more adept at communicating his message than either of them. Clinton had all the money and the political machine to crush him--but she couldn't. And he certainly didn't have the advantage of a privileged upbringing a la a Bush, Kennedy, Roosevelt, or any other American political dynasty.

Again, where's the affirmative action?