Seems like President Barack Obama has a packed social calendar.

The week before taking twelve Republican senators out to a private dinner at a Washington hotel, the president and first lady Michelle Obama had another power couple over for a quiet dinner: Former President Bill Clinton and the recently-resigned secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

The evening sit-down a week ago was a "private dinner that the president and first lady enjoyed," Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest acknowledged Friday. It took place last Friday the same evening that Obama put into effect the forced spending cuts known in Washington as the "sequester."

Earnest was confirming a report that first appeared in Politico.

"They enjoyed the meal and enjoyed the conversation but I don't have any more details," Earnest said in the daily White House press briefing.

The meeting came as the president launched a new effort to cultivate relationships with rank-and-file Republican lawmakers, though as Earnest pointed out Friday that effort began before his dinner with the Clintons when he met with Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham to discuss immigration.

Clinton, like Obama, faced a sometimes bitter relationship with a Republican-controlled Congress during his presidency. Asked what Clinton thought of the new "charm offensive," Earnest declined to speculate.

"I haven't spoken to President Clinton about what he thinks of this effort," he said, acknowledging that Clinton "certainly does have that experience."

The Clinton-Obama dinner is a further indication the couples are continuing to patch up the wounds of the 2008 Democratic primary. The selection of Hillary Clinton as Obama's first secretary of state was one step toward reconciliation, and Bill Clinton's speech at last summer's Democratic National Convention was seen by many as a new sign the old rivalry was faded.