Good luck in Guatemala, Kamala

To say that Kamala Harris has had a quiet five months as US vice president is possibly the understatement of the year. Apart from standing dutifully behind Joe Biden at White House official events she has been remarkably absent. Now she is off to Guatemala and Mexico as part of her Biden-given responsibility for the immigration crisis. Since she was appointed to the job she hasn't made any obvious inroads to the problem and according to helpful White House people her trip to foreign parts is not intended to be a soution-finding moment but a sort of get-to-know-you visit. By now surely there should be a Harris blueprint for sorting the whole thing out, ready for her to present to Guatemala and Mexico, the key countries enmeshed in the flow of migrants into the US, legally or illegally. But it seems not. No Big Ideas have emerged and her trip looks like being no more than a glad-handing couple of days. It's time Biden gave Harris real power to get the immigration challenge addressed fast and furious. Right now it's the opposite, more dainty steps in high-heeled shoes. Being vice president is always tough because there is no stated role as such. It's very much up to the president to delegate some of his onerous tasks to his deputy and leave the vice president to get on with it, and not, as in this case, get White House flunkies to lower expectations before she has even got on the plane.