After failing to do much to secure America's southern border, Vice President Kamala Harris is headed to Europe to help defend Ukraine's borders.
Good luck, Ukraine.
There is little reason to think Harris will be any more effective with that problem than the ongoing border crisis she effectively abandoned.
In fact, the entire Biden administration has its strategy exactly backwards.
As American troops are being deployed to Europe in a largely symbolic display of support for NATO, truly needed US resources are pulled away from the U.S. border with Mexico.
Do Americans care about Russia invading Ukraine? They would prefer not to see it happen, but it's nowhere near the top of their priority list.
In January, when Gallup asked the open-ended question, 'what do you think is the most important problem facing the country today?' an astonishing 23 percent said 'the government' or 'poor leadership,' 20 percent said coronavirus or diseases, 8 percent said high cost of living or inflation, 6 percent said the economy in general.
Immigration came in at 4%, but just 4 months ago, it was 11%.
The issue may be out of the headlines – as the disinterested media moves on – but it's not far from the minds of Americans.
One percent answered, 'foreign policy' and 'the situation with Russia' finished with an asterisk.
After failing to do much to secure America's southern border, Vice President Kamala Harris is headed to Europe to help defend Ukraine's borders.
The White House dispatching Harris to represent the U.S. at the Munich Security Conference is meant to look like a big deal, and the administration's media allies will dutifully hype it as a big deal.
But a vice presidential speech to a room full of diplomats and military officials rarely amounts to much – just another speech at just another international conference, one with little or no consequence on the facts on the ground.
If you're a defense policy wonk, the Munich Security Conference is a big deal, and no doubt NATO chiefs have a lot to talk about next week.
But it's not the G7, it's not the United Nations General Assembly meeting, and it's not even the Davos Economic Forum.
Biden no doubt thinks it is a big deal because he spoke at that conference several times when he was vice president.
But almost all of what is said at the conference is the usual speechwriter-workshopped addresses designed to sound tough, but not too bellicose – we stand united with our allies, aggression will not stand, I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way.
And recent history demonstrates that a U.S. vice president brings the conference a painfully naïve assessment.
Back in February 2013, then-Vice President Biden addressed the Munich Security Conference.
The 2021 fiscal year ended with 1.7 million border apprehensions, the most ever recorded in a single year, and the number of unaccompanied minors especially outpaced records. (Above) Migrants who crossed the border from Mexico at Yuma, Arizona, on January 23, 2022
He boasted that the Obama administration's 'reset button' enabled, among other 'the broadest cooperative agenda the United States and Russia have ever tried to share.'
One year later, Russian troops invaded and occupied Crimea and the Donbas region of Ukraine and have kept it since.
So much for that.
Harris is being sent to give a pep talk – and it's hard to
