Former Mayor and current Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry apparently called up The O’Reilly Factor and asked to be a guest on the conservative talk show last night, and we’ve posted the video above. Barry wanted to talk a bit about Sen. Barack Obama and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright scandal, but don’t get too excited — the back and forth between Barry and host Bill O’Reilly is actually for the most part rather cordial. At the very end, Barry even told O’Reilly that, “strange as it may seem, you’re one of my heroes too, Bill.” Of course, that was just moments after Barry told the host, rather astutely, that “if Barack spent 40 hours with you, you would never vote for him,” while O’Reilly tried to posture himself as being open-minded about Obama’s candidacy.

We’re giving Council member Barry a grade of B+ for this appearance. It’s sort of weird that he thought it might be a good idea for him to get involved in the Wright/Obama scandal, but he actually did a totally decent job on the show.