They did build it, and they are ticked off

Backlash to President Barack Obama's now infamous four words — you didn't build that — continues to grow in the local business community.

Coffee Talk previously reported on YesIdidbuildit.com. Advertising executive Earl Quenzel, with Fort Myers-based Quenzel & Associates, launched the site to provide a venting portal for fellow business owners and executives who disagree with the president's comments.

The Mitt Romney presidential campaign has now seized on the brouhaha, too, specifically by staging “We did build this” events across Florida and in a dozen other states. One of those events was held July 30 in Sarasota, at Super-Sensitive Musical String Co. Ron Van Ostenbridge, the firm's chief operating officer, called President Obama's comments “appalling.”

Ostenbridge spoke under a banner that stated “You're wrong, Mr. President, we did build this business.”

Jim Cavanaugh, president of the company, says the comments especially sting because he and his family have spent the past year reinvesting in the business, which manufactures musical instrument accessories. The plan, according to Cavanaugh, is to become more efficient, so it can fend off overseas competition. Says Cavanaugh: “We are the ones who put it all on the line to build this.”