By Ed Klein

Despite a couple of appearances on behalf of Democratic candidates, Barack Obama has adamantly refused to heed the pleas of his party to lead the "resistance" against Donald Trump and instead spends much of his time at his home just blocks from the White House playing video games, chatting on the phone with celebrity pals, smoking marijuana and popping cannabis-infused gummy bears.

This startling description of Obama's post-presidential life is based on interviews with a close Obama family friend who has been a sleepover guest at the Obama home in the Kalorama section of Washington, D.C., and who has smoked pot with the former president.

"Barack sees himself as sort of a hipster ex-president, a cool guy," said the friend who was interviewed for my new book, "All Out War: The Plot to Destroy Trump." "He wants to go back in terms of fashion and style to his pot-smoking days as a member of the Choom Gang at the Punahou School in Hawaii."

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In his 1995 memoir "Dreams From My Father," Obama wrote about smoking pot "in a white classmate's sparkling new van," "in the dorm room of some brother" and "on the beach with a couple of Hawaiian kids."

Now, according to the family friend, the former president "smokes weed once or twice a week. He stopped while he was president, because he knew it impaired his judgment, but he feels he can get away with it now. It's legal in D.C., so why not?

"He gets the weed from friends who visit him. I was told he keeps a small stash in his bedroom. [The former president and first lady have separate bedrooms in their Kalorama mansion.] He has rolling papers and hasn't forgotten how to roll a joint. Sometimes he'll smoke in his bedroom, and sometimes in the backyard. But mostly he does it when he's traveling."

After he left the White House, Obama took off for French Polynesia and stayed a month at The Brando, a wildly expensive eco-resort on the Pacific atoll of Tetiaoa. Then he boarded David Geffen's $300-million yacht Rising Sun and sailed the Pacific with a bunch of A-list guests, including Oprah Winfrey. He made sure no photos were taken of him smoking marijuana while on Geffen's yacht.

When he returned, Valerie Jarrett, his consigliere, and David Axelrod, the architect of his two successful runs for the White House, urged him to take charge of the Democratic Party's effort to delegitimize and impeach President Trump. They argued that was the only way Obama could save his legacy.

Jarrett even lined up the promise of major financial support from billionaire lefty George Soros.

But Obama wasn't interested in being part of the Trump Derangement Syndrome.

"Valerie says Barack mostly sits in his study playing video games and ordering a hip new wardrobe online, including a leather jacket and $300 Prada sunglasses," said the Obama family friend.

"He takes phone calls from show-business friends like Bruce Springsteen, Jay-Z and Tom Hanks, but he refuses to talk politics."

According to my sources, Obama was never interested in getting involved with the dozens of leftist groups plotting the destruction of President Trump.

His role model, he told friends, was Teddy Roosevelt, who was 51 when he left the White House; Obama was 55. He said he wanted to have adventures, explore Africa and South America, write books about his explorations, and make occasional speeches before adoring crowds for Democratic Party candidates.

"At one point, he became so concerned about people smelling pot around Kalorama that he asked friends to get him some edible stuff. They got him brownies, cookies, and gummy bears infused with THC [the chemical compound in cannabis].

"He had a blow up with Michelle when Malia was caught on video smoking what looked like a joint at a Lollapalooza concert in Chicago. When the tape of Malia went viral, Michelle blew up at him; she said it was his fault because he set a bad example for his daughters, that it was OK to use pot.

"Barack tried to brush off the whole thing, which only made Michelle more furious. She started yelling at him so loudly that the maids could hear. That made Barack furious; he can't stand being yelled at; his mother had a temper and a shrill voice. So he walked out on Michelle and slammed the door behind him."

Edward Klein is the former editor in chief of the New York Times Magazine and author of numerous bestsellers. His latest book is "All Out War: The Plot to Destroy Trump."