In Paris, Vice President Kamala Harris seeks to strengthen ties – and stay out of the headlines

If you were in Paris this week, you could be forgiven for not knowing that Vice President Kamala Harris was here too.

She had talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, delivered a speech at the Paris Peace Forum, dined with world leaders, and visited an American cemetery. But there has been almost no coverage of her five-day visit in the French press.

That's not because the French don't care. Rather, this visit was very tightly controlled and there have been no open public events where ordinary French people could get to see her. No visit to a school or even a shopping trip or dinner at a restaurant. As the first woman vice president, curiosity alone would have brought people out.