>>>Fair question. How about his having come out of a single-parent family and earned his way to Harvard Law. It's not that hard to get into Harvard or Yale* when your father and your grandfather went there, but when you're a poor, mixed-race kid from Hawaii, not so much.
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>>Wouldn't being an intelligent mixed-race/minority make it "easier" to get in to most universities (you know, they're big on diversity)?
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>Today, yes, I think being a member of an underrepresented minority group or being from (for example) Montana or playing an unusual instrument all increase your chances of being chosen from among the pool of qualified applicants.
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>In the 80's, I don't think so.
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There were definitely affirmative action admissions in the 80s. Maybe less so than now, I wouldn't know.

That said, I don't think there is any question about Obama's intelligence. You don't have to listen to him talk very long to know he is bright. Not just his speeches but unscripted ad hoc remarks.