John Rogers, CEO of investment giant Ariel Capital Management, has raised more than $1.5 million for Obama’s reelection campaign. Rogers’s firm also owns a $48.6 million stake in Accenture, the nation’s “best” outsourcer, according to the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals.

Rogers is now looking to break new ground in the world of outsourcing, in order to enhance his company’s $21 billion portfolio. In an interview with Forbes, Rogers expressed his desire to blaze the trail from moving call centers and factories overseas to outsourcing “day-to-day activities” including pest control, landscaping, and secretarial functions.

“We’re making a very big bet right now on outsourcing,” he said. “People have generally soured on the idea, and many companies are trading at discounts to their private-market values. But we don’t think that view accurately reflects the powerful secular growth we’re going to see as companies and individuals outsource more of their day-to-day activities.”

Rogers comes from Obama’s adopted hometown of Chicago, where the two families enjoyed a close relationship. His ex-wife Desiree left a $350,000 per year job at Allstate Insurance Company to serve as White House party planner.

Outsourcing has taken center stage on the campaign trail after Obama blasted Republican nominee Mitt Romney as an “outsourcer in chief” for Bain Capital’s investments in companies that moved jobs overseas.

Obama’s largest bundler, DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, bundled $2 million for the campaign and co-hosted a $10 million Hollywood fundraiser in May. Vice President Joe Biden was involved in Katzenberg’s efforts to create jobs overseas via expansion of studio and distribution operations in China—efforts that have since landed DreamWorks at the center of an SEC corruption investigation.

Other outsourcing champions have the president’s ear when it comes to jobs policy.

The president appointed General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt to lead the White House Jobs Council. GE became the third-largest company in the world under his watch, as the company shed more than 34,000 American jobs, while adding 25,000 foreign workers to its payroll.

GE did not stop outsourcing after Immelt assumed his post. In July 2011, the company moved its Wisconsin-based x-ray division to China, displacing 150 workers and creating 65 new foreign jobs.

Romney countered the Obama campaign’s attacks by accusing the president’s poor economic policies of speeding up outsourcing. His campaign “pointed [reporters] to an April 26 Wall Street Journal story headlined ‘U.S. Firms Add Jobs, but Mostly Overseas’ in an attempt to put the Obama campaign on the defensive,” according to NPR.

The green energy agenda at the center of the stimulus and energy loan programs have helped to shift billions in American capital, as well as hundreds of jobs, to overseas companies. The Obama team has even bragged about the jobs from such loans in a campaign ad criticizing Romney’s record at Bain.

The “clean energy initiatives” featured in the ad include three taxpayer-guaranteed loans to Spanish clean energy conglomerate Abengoa worth $2.78 billion to create 195 permanent jobs—more than $14 million per job—as well as a $529 million loan guarantee to Fisker Automotive, a fledgling company that manufactures $100,000 electric cars in Finland and is now teetering on bankruptcy.

The Department of Energy also awarded nearly $6 billion in taxpayer-guaranteed loans to the Ford Motor Company, which is rapidly expanding its operations outside of the United States.

Ford is not the only motor company that has used taxpayer dollars to expand its overseas operations. GM moved forward with plans to build cars with cheap labor in China and Mexico and import them to the United States for sale in 2009 after Obama awarded the company $50 billion in taxpayer dollars. The administration later granted the company $45 billion in tax breaks that allowed the company to pay no income tax in 2011, despite taking in a record $7.6 billion profit.

Foreign-controlled companies collected $1.7 billion of the green energy grants issued by the stimulus, compared with $500 million for domestic operations, thanks in part to China’s cheap labor and that nation’s control of 95 percent of the rare earth materials used in the creation of energy-efficient products such as light bulbs.

The energy-efficiency focus has led to job losses in swing states, such as Virginia. The administration’s push for more energy-efficient light bulbs led GE to close its largest manufacturing plant in Winchester, Va., leaving 200 laborers in one of the poorest parts of the state out of work.

Romney railed against Obamacare and the president’s handling of the economy during a visit to technology companies in Virginia on Wednesday. The message may be catching on, as a new poll found that he led Obama by 5 points in a state the Democrat carried by 7 points in 2008.

Business insiders reacted with surprise in 2011 when Immelt discussed a new push to hire Americans to run call centers locally. “Offshore Outsourcing Pioneer GE to Hire 1,100 American IT Workers,” read the headline from CIO magazine.

“To those who know their IT outsourcing history, GE and offshoring are practically synonymous,” the article read.

The month before GE’s hiring spree, the company transferred its Wisconsin-based x-ray division to China, displacing 150 American workers, while bringing on 65 engineers overseas. That outsourcing occurred while Immelt was heading Obama’s Jobs Council.

GE became the third-largest company in the world under Immelt’s leadership; cost cutting through outsourcing and expanding to overseas markets has helped fuel its growth over the past decade. When Obama chose Immelt to chair his Jobs Council in 2011, the Huffington Post reported:

As the administration struggles to prod businesses to create jobs at home, GE has been busy sending them abroad. Since Immelt took over in 2001, GE has shed 34,000 jobs in the U.S., according to its most recent annual filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But it’s added 25,000 jobs overseas.

At the end of 2009, GE employed 36,000 more people abroad than it did in the U.S. In 2000, it was nearly the opposite.

GE is not the only Obama ally to ship jobs overseas during the recession. General Motors announced its intention to begin importing cars bound for the U.S. from factories in China and Mexico just months after Obama spearheaded a $50 billion bailout of the company despite public opposition to the plan.

In a confidential 12-page presentation to members of Congress, obtained by The Detroit News on Friday, GM said it will boost U.S. sales of vehicles built in those four countries by 98 percent — or about 365,000 vehicles — while shrinking production in Canada, Australia and European countries by about 130,000 vehicles.

GM also disclosed it will start importing vehicles made in China in 2011, reaching 51,546 vehicles in 2014. Imports from South Korea to the United States will jump from 36,967 vehicles in 2010 to 157,126 in 2014…

GM plans to trim 21,000 hourly workers and close 13 of its 47 U.S. plants by the end of 2010 as part of a tougher recovery plan sought by President Obama’s auto task force. It will close three more U.S. plants by 2014.

Obama has trumpeted the GM bailout on the campaign trail and blasted Romney for once saying that he would have let the car company go bankrupt. Obama’s assistance to the company did not end with the bailout; the administration later granted the automaker a $45 billion tax write-off that allowed it to pay no income tax, despite taking in a record-$7.6 billion profit in 2011. That came one year after GE paid no income tax on $5.1 billion in domestic profits—35 percent of its worldwide profit of $14.2 billion.

Romney has attempted to counter Obama’s “outsourcer-in-chief” attack by accusing the president of perpetuating outsourcing through poor economic policies. His campaign “pointed [reporters] to an April 26 Wall Street Journal story headlined ‘U.S. Firms Add Jobs, but Mostly Overseas’ in an attempt to put the Obama campaign on the defensive,” according to NPR.

That has proved true on the energy front.

Foreign-controlled companies collected $1.7 billion of the green energy grants issued by the stimulus, compared to $500 million for domestic operations.

The administration has pumped billions in federal grants and subsidies to energy companies to manufacture LED and compact fluorescent bulbs (CFBs). The result has been a dramatic shift of jobs to China, where the pricey bulbs are made at a low cost thanks to cheap labor and the regime’s control of 95 percent of the rare raw materials needed to build the bulbs.

The energy-efficient focus has translated to large job losses in swing states, such as Virginia. The administration’s push for more energy efficient lightbulbs led GE to close its largest manufacturing plant in Winchester, Va., leaving 200 laborers in one of the poorest parts of the state out of work.

Romney will continue to parry Obama’s attacks on outsourcing when he campaigns in northern Virginia on Wednesday. The president returned to the White House late Tuesday after campaign stops in Atlanta and Miami.

ALEC has been falsely tied to passage of Florida’s stand-your-ground law, invoked by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in his defense in the Martin case. But what Bashir didn’t appear to realize is that MSNBC’s parent companies, like Koch, are ALEC members.

That hasn’t dissuaded MSNBC personalities such as Finney and other left-wing commentators from implying that Koch Industries is somehow complicit in Martin’s death. It’s an inflammatory charge, but here’s what the rationale for attacks against Koch boils down to: Zimmerman shot Martin in what may or may not have been a permissible use of force under a law that was not based on ALEC model legislation that Koch had no part in formulating – and somehow Koch is responsible…

Comcast and General Electric happen to own MSNBC, the cable news network on which many of these anti-Koch sentiments have been broadcast, and on which Holden had to battle accusations against his employer.

Should we expect to see a boycott of MSNBC and its sister news organizations? Given that MSNBC has served as the platform to broadcast so many of the attacks against ALEC and Koch, it may be too much to ask.

Barack Obama will be gracing cable TV screens Saturday night when he introduces the movie of the week—To Kill a Mockingbird—on USA Network. Gregory Peck’s family, as well as several cast members, will join Obama for the prime time introduction for the film’s 50th anniversary.

“It’s a classic movie that elucidates the need to do the right thing even when it’s hard,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said. “It’s a fantastic movie … especially if you have kids.”

The appearance comes six days after Michelle Obama made a cameo appearance on NBC’s weight-loss show, The Biggest Loser.

Both channels are owned by NBC Universal, which is controlled by Comcast and General Electric. The two companies have close ties to the president and his administration.

Obama named GE chief executive Jeffrey Immelt to his Council on Jobs and Competitiveness in January 2011. He enjoys an even friendlier relationship with Comcast executive vice president David Cohen, a former lobbyist.

Cohen has emerged as a prolific fundraiser for Obama in 2012, raising at least $1.2 million for the president after hosting a $10,000 per head fundraiser at his Philadelphia home. He has contributed $224,850 to liberal groups and candidates since 2007, including a $2,300 donation to Obama in 2008.

Comcast has followed suit, flooding Democrats and Obama with money since 2008, donating $2.3 million to Democrats. That is $300,000 more than it gave to Republicans.

Comcast attained 51 percent ownership of the entertainment division after merging with GE in 2011. The merger raised eyebrows, leading to a yearlong antitrust review, which was later approved by a 4-1 Federal Communications Commission vote.

Comcast reportedly spent approximately $100 million lobbying Congress while the merger was under review.

Michelle Obama has made frequent appearances on NBC-owned networks, including cameos on Bravo’s Top Chef and multiple appearances on late night shows hosted by Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon.

NBC Universal is not the only entertainment company that has benefitted from the first lady’s star power. She has also made a slew of appearances at Viacom-controlled companies, including Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.

Viacom employees have donated more than $115,000 to Obama since 2008.

Michelle Obama left the set of Nickelodeon’s Kids Choice Awards covered in green goo after getting “slimed” while presenting an award two days before her appearance on Biggest Loser.

She will return to the weight loss show next week, when she is also scheduled to appear on Viacom-owned Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report.

The Obamas’ television appearances are part of a media blitz as the president’s re-election campaign kicks into high gear.