Houseguests and fish begin to smell after three days, as the saying goes. But ex-presidents who stay in Washington, D.C., reek almost immediately. In the history of the republic, former presidents have had the decency to get out of town rather than loom over their successor. The two exceptions appear to be Woodrow Wilson and Barack Obama. Wilson, however, has the excuse that he was practically bedridden and expired within three years. Obama has no excuse at all Obama cannot stand being out of the spotlight. During his second term, instead of focusing on building the Democratic Party, he created his own political organization. Before it flopped, he raised millions, diverting resources and organizing away from his party. This is a supposed political genius, yet his decisions opened a path to victory for Trump.