Oriental - is it a racist term?

I was listening to a humor podcast, where they were telling a story about someone who said "we liked the oriental guy better." The podcaster thought the use of "oriental" was racist: "they are called Asian now."

That got me wondering, so I asked J-hole about this last saturday night, and he said he thought it could not be racist per se because it is a geographical term. I basically agree that while its a term that has fallen out of favor, I can't see it as racist.

More thinking brought up these points:

Asian covers all of Asia including India, Iran, etc., while Oriental is more specified.

Note that Chinese people aren't afraid to use the words "Dong Fang Ren" which I would say is the proper translation of Oriental, no?

White people are called Caucasian and that is also a geographic term. (Are you callin' me a Chechen?) But I've never been called an Occidental.

The Oriental is a hotel chain in Asia. If it was a racist term, I don't think they'd use it.

Then again, racist terms in the USA are a bit different as they are sort of self-defined, and I would not call someone an Oriental..."Charlie, yeah, he's that tall Oriental guy." (Then again I wouldn't call anyone Caucasian either cuz it sounds dumb except when cops use it.)

Wikipedia sheds some light, and apparently you shouldn't use it as a noun for someone anymore.

So "the oriental guy" is better than "the oriental" which sounds right to me as I would rather be the Caucasian guy than the Caucasian.

p.s. the Wikipedia section on White Male is interesting as well.