Obama as the beneficiary of "affirmative action"?

Child of a single mom. Harvard Law School grad. One-time civil rights attorney. U.S. Senator from Illinois. Owner of a decent jump shot. Democratic nominee for president.

Beneficiary of some sort of media-driven affirmative action program?

Believe it or not, that's what neoconservative operative and former President Bush speechwriter David Frum (pictured above) suggested on CNN's "Reliable Sources" program on Sunday morning, which is hosted by the Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz.

Here's Frum uttering the magic words on the show (the transcription is mine):

Frum: "If there's anything that the media organizations believe in (it's) institutional (affirmative action). They practice affirmative action internally, probably more enthusiastically than any other corporation in America."

Kurtz: "Are you saying the media are treating Barack Obama as an affirmative action hire for the presidency?"

Frum: "They are very excited about the prospect of the first African-American candidate - serious candidate - for president."

Really?

You know, Frum's remarks sort of reminded me of Rush Limbaugh's ill-fated remarks on ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" pregame show in 2003, when he suggested "the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well."

The notion was ridiculous then, and of course, ridiculous now. To folks like Limbaugh and Frum, whenever a brotha shows up anywhere, they immediately assume he got some extra boost or was the inferior choice. Nevermind that Obama (and a whole bunch of others) is their superior, in a number of ways. He's simply an affirmative-action baby to them.

So, I guess the question is: if Obama got here with help from an entitlement program, how did Dubya make it this far?