By Steve Brawner, © 2018 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Former Govs. Mike Huckabee and Mike Beebe have similar names but different personalities and outlooks, but one area where they agree is this: Being governor is “the best job in the world.”

That’s how Huckabee described it during a joint appearance Monday during a 20-year celebration of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. Beebe immediately agreed.

It was more than a reunion of two former governors. When Huckabee was in office, Beebe was the most powerful state senator, and they worked together to pass bills such as the legislation creating ARKids First, which provides health insurance to lower-income children.

Also on hand were two of the state’s four other still-living governors: current Gov. Asa Hutchinson, whom Beebe defeated in 2010, and Jim Guy Tucker. The other two are Bill Clinton and David Pryor.

You might recall that day in 1996 when then-Lt. Gov. Huckabee dramatically demanded on television that Tucker not break his promise to resign after being convicted in federal court. Huckabee did the right thing to demand the resignation. In the end, Tucker did the right thing by resigning. It says a lot that Tucker attended the event Monday and had his picture taken with the other three.

Surely members of the “Arkansas Governors Club” must feel a kinship. They’ve all dealt with the Legislature, responded to natural disasters, presided over Death Row, and lived in a smaller-than-it-looks mansion that doubles as a tourist attraction.

Those shared experiences may help explain the evening’s most noteworthy moment: when Beebe, a Democrat, defended Hutchinson’s Arkansas Works work requirement.

The program that uses Obamacare dollars to provide health insurance to lower-income Arkansans was created during Beebe’s administration in 2013. At the time, it was known as the private option. Arkansas was one of the few Republican-leaning states that took the money, and it’s been controversial in some quarters of the Legislature ever since. As of Nov. 1, it provided health insurance to 245,552 people.

When Hutchinson succeeded Beebe, he embraced the program while trying to add more personal responsibility, both for philosophical and political reasons. Earlier this year, the Trump administration let Arkansas require some recipients to report that they are working or engaging in other productive activities in order to keep their benefits. So far, the requirement has trimmed the rolls by 12,277 people. Some may be obtaining insurance elsewhere or have moved out of state, but others have simply lost their coverage.

Hutchinson said during the campaign that obtaining the waiver was necessary to maintain support in the Legislature. Without it, everybody would have lost their insurance.

Could he have found the votes anyway? I think probably, but the governor would know more than I. Having a work requirement certainly made it easier for wavering legislators to say yes.

Many Democrats don’t like the requirement. They argue that having health insurance makes it easier for people to work, so taking it away is counterproductive.

Here’s what Beebe had to say: “While I might have tried to do it a different way, Gov. Hutchinson was faced with a pragmatic situation, and he needed to continue the program. And I applaud continuing the program. I’ve told him privately, and I’m here to tell you publicly, Gov. Hutchinson’s continuation of the private option under any other name is something we all ought to be very grateful for.”

The audience applauded. Then Beebe said, “I think you have to be very careful and make sure that you don’t inadvertently drop worthy people out of the system when they need it, but I will acknowledge sometimes the pragmatic nature of getting 90 percent of a loaf is worth doing.”

Was that merely one club member coming to the defense of another?

No, but empathy and shared experiences matter, including in politics. There are only six people who know what it’s like to be Arkansas’ governor, and Beebe and Hutchinson are two of them.