Tea Party activist sends email depicting Barack Obama as a chimpanzee

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

If it weren't for the historical racism where blacks were considered an inferior species of ape, this image would be almost charming - they look like a nice enough family.   If the image itself were really considered horrible and disturbing, then what is the role of the mainstream news media in promoting it? Is it only the original copy that is outrageous, or is the reproduction ad nauseum also a problem? The description of Obama as a chimp baby makes it sound worse than this picture, as thoughtless as this image is. While the political operative who sent this out should be sacked, this probably isn't genuinely offensive so much as creating shock value.  I imagine the person who creating the image is enjoying seeing it all over the internet because anything with chimps and 'tea party' controversy sells. 
some other harsher representation of Obama as an ape could encourage racism, but not this - right?