President Obama’s Father’s Day weekend trip to Yosemite National Park not only generated a massive carbon footprint as he decried global warming, it massively screwed up the holiday visits of thousands of other families, hoping to celebrate Dad in the midst of nature’s splendor.  KFSN Television, the local ABC Television affiliate, reports:

It was a calm scene near the President's podium, but on the rest of the valley floor was a different story.

Roads in the park, at the entrances and the exits, were shut down for hours. Tourists stopped in their tracks in awe of the President and in shock of the gridlock.

Andy Kubala and Debbie Anderson are visiting from Florida, they were stuck in the gridlock on Saturday.

"We have not been able to move any place in the park," said Kubala.

"Nobody can go out, nobody can go in," said Anderson.

For hours before, during, and after Mr. Obama's speech nearly all traffic in Yosemite National Park was at a standstill.

"It's really unfortunate that four people jam up at least 100,000 people," said Kubala.

As rangers pushed people back to make way for his arrival, roadblocks took on a whole new meaning.

"The RV over here, They decided that needed to move. They tried to take a turn and now they're stuck on a tree and it's blocking the only view of the president right now. We had no idea about the fiasco that was going to happen today," said Neil Karsten, Ripon.

Even hiking trails were Restricted. The lower part of the Yosemite Falls was closed off to the public. Roads became parking lots and parking lots the new local hangout spot.

But Obama got his talking points out, so it was all worth it.  To him and his environmentalist backers.

Meanwhile, Rep. Tom McClintock, one of my favorite members of Congress, whose district incudes Yosemite, had the ultimate rejoinder to the president’s global warming claims.  Obama said:

The biggest challenge we are going to face in protecting this place and places like it is climate change. Make no mistake, climate change is no longer a threat it is a reality.

While McClintock countered:

With his comments about global warming, I would point out that if his speech had been given on this very spot 12,000 years ago we would be under a 3,000-foot sheet of ice. So global warming has been going on for a long time, long before the invention of the SUV.