During last night's first Presidential news conference veteran journalist Helen Thomas posed one of the evening's most telling questions. For those of you that are unfamiliar with her, Thomas has been a member of the White House Press Corps since the Kennedy Administration, and throughout her career has been both feared and despised for her tenacity. Last night, at the age of 89, she proved no less tenacious than she has been for the last forty plus years.

Thomas' question was rather straightforward. It was also a loaded question, that I'll not deny. There's no arguing that President Obama wasn't going to directly answer it, and that was probably her reason for posing it in the first place. It was, in every sense, a test, one that the President failed.

Thomas asked the President if he knew of any counties in the Middle East that currently possess nuclear weapons. In doing so she presented the President with the opportunity to comment on the fact that Israelis do have a weapons program and substantial arsenal despite the fact that they have denied the existence of both for decades. Obama's response was predictable. Rather than admit that the United States government is aware that the Israelis do possess a nuclear arsenal, he instead chose to duck the question, claiming only that any current escalation would be detrimental. He did not comment on Israel's possession of nuclear weapons, nor the fact that their program has never been scrutinized by the IAEA. Thomas attempted to pressure the President for an answer off mic, which she is famous for doing, but to no avail.

Last night's press conference obviously focused primarily on the economy, but another important question that was also ducked had to do with the overturning of the military's policy of not allowing the caskets of dead soldiers to be photographed. Unfortunately, the President was again evasive, even though the fact that now Vice President Biden called for that very policy to be overturned a year ago was also brought up. Obama claimed that his administration was in the process of reviewing the policy with the Department of Defense and wouldn't speculate until after that review was completed.

Updated for content @ 5:27 PM, PST.