Racism is simply the belief that one race is better than all the other races. I've known plenty of liberals who are just as guilty of that as conservatives. Repubs certainly don't have monopoly on it.
It's sad when that becomes the primary political tool of a person/party/political movement, though.
You can bet that if presidents were elected 'blind' - if no one knew what they looked like, and no mention of race/religion/gender was made - the results would be different.

What is the point of rules that are not enforced?