Just the Right Shade?

"You knew at some point, [Barack Obama] was supposed to win.  He had all the right ingredients that came together at the right time: he's tall, good looking, articulate, highly intelligent, smooth under pressure, charismatic, and--most importantly--he was the right shade."

Is Obama's relatively light skin color a
possible reason he won?

This is a quote from stand-up comedian Aries Spears that I came across and was struck by (here is the video, his Obama comments start 13 minutes in).  He claims that Obama's perfect skin color allowed him to win, and when I though about it, I agreed with this notion because he was light enough to "make white people feel comfortable" but still "Black" so that Americans can feel like we have progressed enough to elect an African-American president.

If Obama was "Bernie Mac black," I truly don't think he could've been elected, but since he is 1/4 white and has lighter skin, the idea of him as president was a little less radical to people.  To use Aries Spears' analogy, he's like "coffee with cream, it goes down easy" as opposed to "coffee black," which is "too strong."

On the other hand, I believe there is another group of Americans that wants to buy into this idea (myth?) that we are no longer a racist country.  Therefore, the fact that he was African-American at all helped him.

Obama's skin color was "perfect" because it appealed to both these groups of people: he got every Black person's vote for simply being their skin color and didn't scare too many white people away since he is very light skinned for an African-American.

Is Aries Spears right?  Was Obama just the right shade for being president?  Would results have been different if he was much darker or lighter?