President Obama Hosts Lawmakers For Picnic As Trade Debate Looms

— -- On the (unofficial) menu at Wednesday night’s congressional picnic at the White House: a side dish of political arm-twisting.

Looming over the annual soiree in the president's backyard were tensions between the White House and Democrats who oppose his trade deal — a group that includes House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, typically one of the president's most reliable and influential allies in Congress.

Those tensions lingered in the air as the president took the stage at Wednesday night’s 1950's-style "sock hop" themed picnic.

“Obviously democracy can be contentious, there are times when people have deep principled disagreements but I hope events like today remind us that ultimately, we’re all on the same team,” Obama noted in his brief remarks.

Obama didn’t directly bring up his stalled trade agenda, but he didn’t have to.

Just as the picnic got underway, a large group of Democratic members of Congress filed out of the West Wing onto the South Lawn following meetings with President Obama.

The White House signaled that President Obama would likely veto a trade legislation package that only passes TPA (Trade Promotion Authority), which grants him the fast-track authority to negotiate trade deals, without also passing TAA (Trade Adjustment Assistance), which provides financial assistance to workers displaced by global trade.

"If there is a strategy that is put in place that only allows TPA to pass, that's a strategy that the president won't support," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl in Wednesday’s press briefing. "I don't think it's going to come to that."

The picnic may have also been the first time that the president and Pelosi have spoken since she helped derail the trade legislation last week. President Obama has made overtures to some lawmakers, like House Speaker John Boehner, in recent days, but the White House wont' reveal whether he's spoken with Pelosi.

"The people who are most relevant to trying to find this path forward are people who are part of the bipartisan majority that have allowed this legislation to advance. That's why the president has frequently been on the phone with both the Speaker of the House and the majority leader of the Senate," Earnest said. In regards Pelosi, he noted she "doesn't want the legislation to advance."

Still, Earnest dismissed the notion that the president's trade agenda would loom over the picnic, telling reporters Tuesday that it is “primarily be a social event” and that he doesn’t “anticipate a lot of arm twisting taking place.” But it’s hard to imagine there weren’t some conversations between the president and Democrats he needs to recruit to support the trade legislation while they snacked on burgers and hot dogs.

After all, President Obama also made a surprise appearance at last week’s Congressional baseball game — the first he’s attended as president — to do some politicking on his trade agenda in the casual setting. And he made reference to the game in his picnic remarks.

“I do want to also say how wildly impressed I was at the quality of baseball when I went out to Nats stadium [Nationals Park] the other night,” Obama said. “You guys actually looked like you knew what you were doing.”

“Flake, I saw you man, at bat, you were alright,” Obama said, in an apparent shout-out to Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake.

But some Democrats aren't interested in hearing from the White House any further. Oregon Democrat Rep. Peter DeFazio spoke critically of the president's intense lobbying efforts in a speech on the House floor Wednesday.

"The president went to the baseball game last week, first time in seven years he's shown up at the House baseball game," DeFazio said. "They are furiously plotting what way they can trick us or somehow overcome 85 percent of the Democrats in the House caucus here and a number of Republicans who have concerns about these failed trade deals."

Despite last week's legislative defeat, the president and Republican congressional leaders are working on a plan to get the trade agenda through Congress by the end of July. And that means more time for political arm-twisting.