So full of Christmas cheer was the air around the White House yesterday that it even caused a massive traffic jam. Oh, wait — that was actually the road closures around the White House, and most of the drivers stuck in the hours-long commute out of the District were anything but cheery.

Yesterday’s lighting of the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse was a festive moment, spare the feel of dread that no doubt struck the District’s many drivers when they realized that major traffic arteries around the White House would be shut down for a better part of the day and into the evening rush. Traffic slowed to a horn-blaring crawl on stretches of Pennsylvania Avenue, H Street, 18th Street, and other affected roads, only to clear well after the usual rush has left the city’s boundaries.

We’re not ones to side with drivers too often, but yesterday was one case where we collectively felt the pain of the District’s vehicular commuters. As D.C. Metblogs’ Tom Bridge noted last night, security is one thing, but causing massive traffic jams so that President Bush’s motorcade can drive him from the White House to the Ellipse (yes, they drove him) is a whole other level of ridiculous.

Picture snapped by tbridge