In the flood of drug charges, tax evasion convictions, stalking allegations, perjury charges and drunk driving arrests that have marked Barry's political career in recent years, only longtime political observers recall when Barry was cool.

In the 1970s, Barry represented a big black middle finger to the white southern congressmen who oversaw D.C, like their own plantation. He was able to charm white Georgetown elites while instilling a sense of pride in the city's poorest blacks in Anacostia.

But that was a long time ago.

And once Barry got to City Hall, he brought blacks in to city positions they previously could only dream of.

Barry even took a bullet for the city while serving on the city council in 1977, when terrorists from a breakaway sect of the Nation of Islam took over the District Building in a two-day siege. What could be cooler than that?

But again, that was a long time ago.

Most trace Barry's downfall to his use of cocaine. Since then, he has consistently put his needs above those of the city he proclaims to love.

Barry reached his nadir in 1990, at the Vista Hotel, when he was caught on video smoking crack with former girlfriend Rasheeda Moore (notice a pattern here?) and made the words "Bitch set me up" a permanent part of the city's political lexicon.

Despite winning back political office, Barry has been sliding downhill since.

It was sad watching Barry beg fellow council members for his chairmanship. The only bright light in the ugly affair is that the vote was 12-0 to censure him, signaling a possible shift away from the old politics that have poisoned the city for years.

After the council vote, Barry retreated to a local church in his Ward 8 community to speak before several hundred supporters. He told the crowd he wouldn't let his woes get the best of him.

"They may take my committee chair," he said. "They can't take my dignity."

Unfortunately, Marion Barry gave that up a long time ago.