'IF I WAS PRESIDENT' Wyclef Jean invites fans to share political ideas
NEWSDAY
On his new single, "If I Was President," Wyclef Jean outlines his plans for the White House. "Instead of spending billions on the war, I can use that money so I could feed the poor," he sings in a warm but strident voice that is reminiscent of his hero Bob Marley. "Find the best scientists, tell them, 'Come up with an answer,' I want the cure for AIDS and cancer," he says later.
With the release of the single, Jean now wants to find out what his fans would do if they were president. The singer has set up a message board on AOL for fans to offer their ideas. Jean will incorporate the responses into the remixes of the song, due in conjunction with the release of the forthcoming "Silent but Deadly" album later in the fall.
"I want to get them to really interact," Jean says. "I want them to go out and make a statement. I want to help educate them about how important it is to vote. They think that they just have one vote, when millions of people are voting. But they forget that on all these little campaigns, the candidates come to our towns. See how powerful we are? They are coming to us because they need us to win."
Jean says "If I Was President" should not be seen as a song with a specific president or candidate in mind. "This song is not targeting George Bush," he says. "It's not a pro-[John] Kerry song. This is about the general state of the economy. I'm addressing the U.N., the Congress. We're spending billions on the war now, but before Bush that was going on, too."