President Biden’s foreign policy record is viewed unfavorably by most Americans and has been for more than three years now as a string of failures and disappointments. Normally, any vice president is considered a member of the existing administration, inevitably associated with its weaknesses and strengths. However, the problem for Kamala Harris is that the president’s inability to stave off chaos overseas is held in wide contempt—and she knows it.

The vice president’s supporters have thus adopted the following technique to defend their candidate. First, they claim she is now an experienced foreign policy hand, having flown many miles to many different countries. Second, they suggest more quietly that she should not be associated with any failures on the president’s part. For instance, she was “not in the room” when crucial decisions were made in Afghanistan. And by the way, they insist, she was never “border czar.”

Therefore, Kamala Harris appears to be the Cheshire Cat in Biden’s foreign policy record. She was there but not there—a part of its supposed successes yet absent for its numerous failures. These contradictions will all be resolved by a smiling, giggling Harris foreign policy doctrine, only to be revealed after she’s president.

Allow me to speculate on the true content of the Harris doctrine on U.S. foreign policy, one that will be more convincing to those who’ve followed her political career over the years: she will say and do whatever is required to become president.

This might not be so bad if Harris were at the head of an elite coalition with sensible........

© The National Interest