Can't set input/textarea background color or image?

If I set a background color or image in CSS, it will display perfectly in IE/Firefox/etc. In Safari, it's always a white background. If I have styled the input and/or textarea fields to have white text, then the text is completely unreadable in Safari.

I've seen many people discussing this on Google and through these forums, but I don't see any solution. It's hard to believe that Safari doesn't support setting a background color or image in CSS. Is this true? Is there any work-around besides javascript (which really isn't a good solution)?

Thank you.