Being a minority probably hurts you more than helps you, politically. While it's true that you some people will vote for you because of your minority status, there are more people who will vote against you because of it. Not because they dislike minorities necessarily, but because without looking into the issues, they assume you're only popular because of your race. Jesse Jackson, who legitamately only got as far as he did(not very far) because of being black, with having little of positive substance, made Obama's trail rough around the edges.
In the end, what helped him more than anything was his political maneuvering. If you want to come at him for something, that's fairer. Bush was unpopular and he did everything he could to emotionally connect Bush to McCain in the people's mind, which if you ask me was not saying anything of real substance. His entire campaign was based on hating Bush, and therefore, hating McCain, despite the two of them being very different people. It works because the majority of the voters do not follow politics carefully. Most do not even know a lot of the major positions of the person they're voting.
Which is why we mostly get empty suits elected.
But no, Obama is no affirmative action president. If he was white, he would still have been elected. Also the media don't love him because he's black, it's because he has an honest, good personality - most can spot a fake. It was true of Bush to some degree in his early months. Even people who disliked the politics, liked the man.
Give Obama another year without any economic improvement, people will turn on him too. People are starting to connect the economy with him now instead of the Republicans, regardless of if it's fair or not.
