After having run a lackluster Presidential campaign that disappointed all who wanted to support him–and not just by the way it turned out–the Senator from Arizona is returning to what he does best; being a political gadfly:

Sen. John McCain took his most direct shot at President Barack Obama since the presidential campaign on Friday morning, using a Senate floor speech to criticize the president for mocking the Republican concerns over the massive economic stimulus package.

In a fiery speech Thursday night before House Democrats, Obama rejected the GOP’s characterization that the stimulus package was merely another spending bill.

“What do you think a stimulus is? That’s the whole point. No, seriously, that’s the point,” Obama said at the retreat in Williamsburg, Va.

On Friday morning, McCain fought back.

“The whole point, Mr. President, is to enact tax cuts and spending measures that truly stimulate the economy,” McCain said. “There are billions and tens of billions of dollars in this bill which will have no effect within three, four, five or more years, or ever. Or ever.”

For all of the vaunted toughness and savvy of Team Obama, the Republicans are winning the messaging war at the present time. John McCain is no small part of that. He may have deserved a lot of criticism during the Presidential campaign for the way in which his effort was run and for many of the positions he took, positions that were and are antithetical to small-government, free market thinking. But there can be no denying that in his current iteration, McCain deserves praise for standing up to the Administration’s misguided legislative package. May his efforts meet success.