Fair warning. I have spent the summer session studying Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It's my current hammer, and Republican conservative racism looks to me like one gigantic nail. But I think this explains why the conservatives are pushing such an irrational appeal to their extreme base.
I'm convinced that the conservatives (not necessarily the leaders, but the tea partiers, evangelicals and such) suffer from anxiety at the very idea that minorities can break out of the "proper" social classes and take senior positions in society. The conservatives feel threatened. They are certain that the minorities will take what the conservatives have spent their lives earning (or inheriting, which to them is the same thing.)
The generation that has passed since the most active civil rights actions in the 60's have allowed the conservatives to accept that eliminating segregation, miscegenation laws, and red lining for minorities is not going to create total chaos in American society as they were certain it would. They don't like equal rights for Blacks, but they can tolerate that program so they no longer actively fear it. But to have a Black man defeat one of the White upper class leaders and become President is another thing. Their belief is that only the right families can have that position. Many conservatives simply know that a Black President means the destabilizing of America and allowing the minorities to come take their jobs, wealth and women.
So what does CBT have to do with this? Look below the squiggle.
CBT is the most effective treatment for anxiety, which suggests that the theory it is based on is reasonably accurate.
CBT is based on the theory that events and statements are not reacted to directly. Events trigger beliefs. It is the beliefs which trigger the actions, not the original event. Rational beliefs lead to rational behavior, while irrational beliefs lead to anxiety and irrational actions. Also, most of the beliefs are acted on unconsciously. People are not even aware of the beliefs they base their decisions on for the most part.
CBT teaches that the belief structures which controls all human reactions are based on knowledge and experiences since birth. Irrational belief structures lead to irrational behavior and to anxiety. The idea that having a Black Man as President will cause social chaos and will threaten the white race directly is one of those irrational belief structures.
Since race is a socially created concept which does not actually exist it is inherently irrational. Racism cannot be made rational, so it cannot lead to rational behavior and speech.
Conservatives have reached an accommodation with the existing race rules since history has shown the lower classes will not run wild and destroy America. But this accommodation is one which is for the most part acted on unconsciously, since to consciously acknowledge it means to be consciously aware of it. Such conscious awareness would be inconsistent with their self-images, so they keep it buried outside of the consciousness.
The problem is that the very existence of a Black President forces them to face the irrationality of their belief structures. There are two ways to deal with that. Eliminate the Black President (Romney failed last year) or give in to real serious anxieties and irrationalities.
Mike Kelly knows that seeing Obama as President forces him into the irrationality thicket surrounding his racism. That racism could be ignored and avoided for the most part, but the ubiquitousness of the President in the media makes that impossible. So everything Obama does will cause Kelly to have to face racism.
Kelly's response is to blame Obama for triggering his own inherent racism.
CBT teachers that such irrational belief structures can be dealt with by restructures the irrational beliefs and replacing them with more rational ones. But first he'd have to accept that he is the one with a problem, not Obama and the Democrats. Kelly hasn't hit rock bottom yet and probably never will, because if he changes his belief structure he will lose his current socially high position. That's true for most conservative political leaders and evangelical preachers.
That's my personal explanation at the personal level for the continued insanity and nihilism we have been seeing in the Conservative Republicans. I certainly would not guarantee it's accuracy, but it makes sense to me.
At the group level so far the best description I have seen is The Authoritarians by Bob Altemeyer. John Dean has a book out based on Altemeyer's book.