"We've even tried an affirmative action president...
You mean George W. Bush, of course? After all, he certainly would have never earned his way into places like the Phillips Academy or Yale University if his father had not been an alumni of these schools.
The most blatant example of 'affirmative action' in America today is the practice, particularly among Ivy League schools, of 'legacy admissions', often referred to as 'white affirmative action':
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/04/23/1294100/-So-where-it-the-outrage-against-affirmative-action-for-white-people
http://www.businessinsider.com/legacy-kids-have-an-admissions-advantage-2013-6
Even my engineering school, a tax-payer supported public university, still offers a program where children and grandchildren of alumni are guaranteed admission as long as they finish in the top 25% of their high school class, and even if they were never a resident of Michigan, they will only need to pay in-state tuition.