Wyclef Jean: Why I Ought to Run Haiti

Musician sees 4 key goals for nation
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 7, 2010 8:50 AM CDT
Wyclef Jean: Why I Ought to Run Haiti
Wyclef Jean leaves the electoral office after filing to run for president of Haiti in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010.   (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

He's already being poo-poohed by everyone from Sean Penn to a former bandmate, so today Wyclef Jean takes to the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal to explain why he thinks he should be president of Haiti. "This little nation with big problems and even bigger heart can no longer wait to turn a corner," Jean writes, and while he admits he's no "miracle worker," the former Fugee thinks he's the right man for the job.

Jean outlines four primary areas in which Haiti's leader needs to make tracks: Security through permanent housing for the million-plus still displaced, job creation, education, and shaking down foreign governments for the missing 91% of aid promised after the earthquake. "I have already begun to make progress in all of these areas," Jean writes, citing his work with Yele Haiti, but the presidency will give him the reins to harness Haiti's greatest asset: "the grace, dignity and hope of the Haitian people." (More Wyclef Jean stories.)

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