Wyclef Jean: Haiti's Next President?

According to an anonymous source and the rumor mill in general, Fugees maestro Wyclef Jean is going to announce his candidacy for President of Haiti. Hmm. Does Haiti care that he's had a few problems lately?

One newspaper has cited "a source close to the government" in Port-au-Prince as saying that Wyclef is planning to run. The rumor's been floating around long enough that Wyclef felt compelled to say on Twitter last week, "Just to Clear up the rumors I have not announce to the Press that I'm Running for President of Haiti."

Which, you'll notice, clears up nothing, and sounds an awful lot like a cagey way of saying he'll announce that very thing at a later date. He's also been engaged in political-type activities like ringing the opening Nasdaq bell and writing op-eds about Haiti's future. His spokesperson's non-denial from last weekend says it all: "I know there's always rumours flying (around), but we don't have anything definitive on our end, so if anything were to change, I'm sure a press release would be issued."

So, assuming Wyclef does decide to run, here are a few items from our very own John Cook for the press to ask him about:

• He paid his alleged mistress more than $100,000 through his charity, Yele Haiti.
• He demanded a $100,000 fee to appear at a fundraiser for his own hometown.
• Yele Haiti, which boosted Wyclef's own visibility greatly following the Haiti earthquake, is generally shady, or, at the very least, poorly run.

And what, if anything, was his role in making Lauryn Hill go crazy? That was a tragedy of the highest order.

Wyclef's music is great. But as we've learned here in the USA, musicians don't always make the greatest politicians.