Wyclef Jean for President of Haiti?

(July 26) -- "If I were president," Wyclef Jean once sang. As it turns out, he may yet get that chance, or is at least giving it serious consideration.

Several reports over the past week have suggested that the former frontman of '90s hip-hop collective the Fugees will likely make a run for the highest office in Haiti, his homeland. Today, he furthered such speculation, telling CNN: "I can't sing forever." That comes after a less-than-wholesale denial via Jean's prolific Twitter account last week.

Just to Clear up the rumors I have not announce to the Press that I'm Running for President of Haiti. #warriors. #Afaceafaceless than a minute ago via UberTwitterWyclef Jean
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If it happens, a presidential run would build on the work Jean has done following January's devastating earthquake in Haiti.

His charity foundation, Yele Haiti, has raised nearly $10 million in donations for the relief effort, according to the latest estimates ($2 million of it reportedly from text donations in just the first few days after the disaster). At the same time, a campaign would likely dredge up the scandal over the organization's spotty bookkeeping and dubious transactions -- specifically that he spent pre-earthquake Yele Haiti funds on a recording studio and to pay himself and his associates for gigs -- which ended up moving him to tears during one memorable news conference.

That said, past scandals have scarcely stopped other famous, aspiring and charismatic politicians from ascending to some of the highest seats in the land here in the U.S. Indeed, one could argue that Jean's philanthropy, melodramatic public persona and imperfect resume make him ideally suited to the political arena.

Plus, there's Haiti's history to consider: The country is notoriously politically corrupt, ranking at the very bottom on the 2006 Corruptions Perceptions Index. And compared to the father-son duo of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier -- both of whom plunged Haiti deeper into poverty while enriching their own coffers and implementing systematic, violent political repression -- Jean seems like a saint.

Although Haiti's current president, Rene Preval, has managed to avoid at least some of the pitfalls of his predecessors, he is in his second (discontinuous) five-year term, and thus cannot run again. As a result of both government squabbling and the chaos caused by the earthquake, Haiti's election system remains in total disarray -- the presidential election is scheduled to be held in February, but it's anyone's guess whether that will actually happen. So at the very least, it appears as though a presently lukewarm Jean will have plenty of time to decide whether to toss his hat into the ring.

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