It's transparently obvious to everyone with working brain cells that Special Counsel Robert Hur's report on Joe Biden's feebleness and mental capacity has severely hurt the President's reelection chances. More importantly, though, America needs to know if this President can actually perform the job.

A question over the President's competency shouldn't be something we have to dig to learn. But that's what will have to happen in this case.

The way forward for the President to prove this is simple: release the proof if the report isn't accurate. Biden can talk to journalists in interviews, go on campaign tours, and release the evidence behind Hur's report.

The problem is that the President isn't interested in doing this. It's not just that he's brushing off the attacks -- these are impossible to ignore for any politician -- he's not taking the steps to defend himself. And the reason why looks obvious: he physically and mentally can't do it. And his staff believes that, too.

Politico reports that Democrats are freaking out. "Democrats had a forceful message for the Biden campaign amid the special counsel report fallout: It's time to flood the zone."

They want Biden to go everywhere:

They want to see him engage with the press and voters in the off-script and punchy exchanges he's been known for in the past, which they believe will help chip away at concerns about the President's mental acuity. They say that it's worth the risk of potential slip-ups that could reinforce the image that he's declining.

Biden tried to storm out the day Hur's report dropped and give an emergency press conference. But he proceeded to confuse the Presidents of Mexico and Egypt. The very first outing failed miserably.

There's no flood coming from this White House. It's a virtual desert of responses. Instead, the White House is trying to outsource this response to the press. They released a "memo" dictating how they wanted coverage to go.

That's not working, either. The New York Times states that journalists are looking for the transcript of the Hur interview of Biden. If Biden wants a shield, he must turn over something to the press to get a defense.

He's not doing that either: "But while the White House has indicated it is looking at releasing the material to support its assertions that Mr. Hur's characterization that Mr. Biden's memory had "significant limitations" was inaccurate and driven by partisanship, it has made no commitment to do so and has offered no timetable. Such a disclosure does not appear imminent, according to people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters about why the review is challenging."

To pull a page from the Trump litigation, Biden will likely have his team argue for executive privilege to prevent the release of the Hur transcripts. Or, at a minimum, to delay it from being released. 

The primary obstacle to learning whether or not the President can perform the job physically and mentally is the President himself. His staff is hiding him in the White House, the lawyers are fighting the release of transcripts, and the staff is demanding no one look behind the curtain to see if the Wizard of Oz is all he's cracked up to be.

This is, to put it mildly, a serious national security concern. When Vladimir Putin is cracking crooked grins to cameras, talking about how he prefers Biden to Trump, it's impossible to avoid the sense we're in danger. It's not about Putin being right or wrong; it's about whether or not the President is capable of responding comprehensibly to a well-known dictator bent on overthrowing US power abroad.

The world is not getting safer under Biden's watch. It's getting more dangerous. Terrorist groups are actively firing on our troops and allies, Russia is ramping up its war in Ukraine, and China is learning from all these situations. Congress had a full-blown meltdown over the possibility of a Russian nuclear weapon in space aimed at American satellite networks.

Our first order of business is to get these Hur transcripts released. If all of this is false and Biden is fine, that's good to know because it cuts back against the notions that America is in a weakened position. But if the reports are accurate, or worse, Hur's report sugar-coated things, we need to know this now - not after an election.

This isn't hyperbole. The President is hiding from interviews and trying to slow the release of evidence of his capacity to perform the duties of the office. I get that Congress is essentially useless right now. Still, we need them to release these documents and take Robert Hur's testimony seriously next month.

It being an election year will complicate the politics of this. Nevertheless, the reality is simple: Joe Biden has to prove he can perform the duties of the office. American security depends upon it. That starts with releasing the Hur transcripts.