The entire nation will look toward Washington D.C. in the coming months as Mayor Marion S. Barry, Jr.‘s federal narcotics charge unravels.

Barry is charged with drug possession. He was arrested in a sting opertion at a Washington D.C. hotel on Jan. 18 where federal prosecuters said Barry was videotaped buying crack cocaine and smoking it.

Barry’s arrest has thrown a wrench in his political career, to say the least. The charges literally came days before Barry was scheduled to announce his campaign for a fourth term, but it appears now that idea has gone up in smoke.

Barry’s arrest is disheartening to everyone, but only points to how far the war on drugs really must go. Washington D.C. is one of the most drug-ridden cities in the country, and that corruption has apparently climbed all the way up to the mayor’s office.

Paranoid cries of white sabotage by some radical members of the black community are unfounded, and luckily are not believed by the general populace.

What does need to be believed, however, is a man elected to three terms in the same office must have been doing something right. And a man that was being investigated by the FBI and arrested during a reverse drug sting, must have been doing something wrong.

Either way, Barry has to face the music of his alleged drug problem and those ramifications on his political career. The nation’s eyes will be watching.