Obama praises Sen. Lugar (and bipartisanship)

President Obama seized a chance this week to praise former Senate colleague Richard Lugar -- but also seemed to be talking to the Tea Party about bipartisanship.

Obama said Lugar -- who lost re-election to a Tea Party challenger earlier this year -- exemplifies the kind of public service that " ought to be about problem-solving and governance, not just how we can score political points on each other or engage in obstructionism."

Obama added: "And where compromise is not a vice and where bipartisanship is a actually considered a virtue to be rewarded, not punished."

Obama spoke Monday at the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Symposium, honoring the nuclear non-proliferation organization co-founded by Lugar.

"At times, we've disagreed on matters of policy," Obama said of the Indiana Republican. "But one thing we've always shared is a notion of what public service should be: That it ought to be more than just doing what's popular in the moment, that it ought to be about what's right for our nation, over the long term."

The six-term senator lost a Republican primary to Tea Party-backed Richard Mourdock, who in turn lost the general election to Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind.

Obama, of course, has tangled with the Tea Party over taxes, the debt ceiling and the ongoing "fiscal cliff" debate.