It's really tempting to slam the ill-informed for racism against President Barack Obama, and other public figures who happen to be minorities. That's what it is, after all. False accusations; unreasonable demands that are either unattainable, humiliating, or both; double standards. It's easy to charge racist, but it's not always the answer; it's not always helpful.
A little background; I am a person of mixed race. I grew up pretty sheltered, so it wasn't until I entered the workforce a few years back that I really got to see how sheltered I was. (I must confess, very happy to be entering postgraduate soon.) I was very thoroughly disabused of my illusions of a post-racial society. Despite this, I may still come at this subject with a little more optimism than the more seasoned old salts around here. Feel free to attempt to further disillusion me after the squiggly-wiggly divider.
I sincerely believe your average Tea Drinker has no conscious prejudice against persons of color; they don't sit in any dark rooms and twirl cigars around, discussing how they can actively disadvantage minorities - most of the voter base, anyway. The politicians I give a bit less benefit of the doubt.
But first, a little framing: we grow up in a society where we have more and more examples of people who have achieved great things in spite of this disadvantage. I do not believe that when your average conservative these days speaks of Martin Luther King, they do so with anything less than sincere belief in his rightness. The man has been enshrined; there are 36 million results on google for the keywords 'Martin Luther King School', compared to merely 7 million results for 'Roosevelt School,' which would include both Teddy and Franklin. That came from somewhere, and that has an effect on the kids who grow up.
I'll be the first to say straight up that the GOP's policies and attitudes are not healthy for this country, especially African-Americans, but what we see the Tea Party manipulate is really social and cultural and intellectual xenophobia moreso than anything else. To the Tea Drinker, not being racist means that if you photoshopped a dude to be darker than Reese's, but he still acts the same, they are cool with that. When you accuse them of being racist, with this as their frame of reference, they're just going to double down and call you obsessed and making excuses.
With America's realization that colored people can do everything that white people can do has come the sense that all people must do what white people do. I'm not going to pretend that this is earth-shattering news to everyone. I think everyone knew this, but I wanted people to keep it in the forefront of their mind when they're talking about and to our opposition. We must call out this bigotry and we must do so forcefully, but it has to be framed in a nuanced way: cultural xenophobia. Aversion to people who think and act differently.
Again, there are people who act in the stereotypical manner of racism: "And I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever," but even people who quietly self-identify as the George Wallaces of the world are rare in America these days. This is why, despite the increasingly conservative stances taken by America's politicians today on most things, top-rated shows are more and more willing to have openly homosexual and positive characters. That's why there is such a thing as the Log Cabin Republicans and GayOP, as strange as that sounds to most of us. For most Americans, there isn't much of a boogeyman culture left to fear there.
The President? It's not just that he's African-American. (I mean that literally, since he's technically not black.) That contributes, it enables some of the 'other' fear, but it's only part of the picture. He grew up part of the way in Indonesia, a place I'd be willing to bet that the average American wouldn't even be able to place on a map. He doesn't have a name like many black people. He's from a really big city, but it's not one that screams Americana the way LA or NYC do. He doesn't scream constantly about how Christian he is, or how much he likes the good old days, the safe old days. There's emotional room for doubt where he came from, to these people, and that's what the Tea Party is manipulating. Especially because he looks so quietly perfect - too perfect, to the paranoid. That's why someone like John Sununu can say damn lies from a glass house and not blink.
How to fight it? I think President Obama's got the right idea, and unfortunately, the only idea that's really effective - introduce himself to Americans, one at a time. Constantly and forcefully and with that beaming smile of his. It means rarely calling out the word "racist," even when we're thinking it. No one wants to be a George Wallace these days, and unless they already respect you, they're more likely to throw out your opinion of them than their own. Strike with the words, "divisive," and counter with "American," and "diversity," and "dream."