McCain still a GOP maverick

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Less than three months after losing the U.S. presidential election, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is back to his maverick ways, political observers say.

As evidence they cite McCain's criticism of a Republican move to delay the confirmation vote for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by one day, the Washington Post reported Friday.

"I remind all my colleagues: We had an election," McCain said in his first speech of the 111th Congress on Thursday. "I think the message the American people are sending us now is they want us to work together and get to work."

The Arizona Republican also indicated he approved of President Barack Obama's executive order to close the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year.

"He's an activist legislator. He's not an obstructionist," fellow Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says of McCain. "He wants to roll up his sleeves and solve problems, and those are the same signals that the new president is sending."