FAIRMONT — The time for inaction and bickering is over.

We prefer action and problem-solving discussion.

It’s certainly true that America can’t turn to Washington, D.C., for a solution to every problem. At the very least, though, Americans have the right to expect their representatives to do their part to lend a hand when millions of citizens are hurting — and hurting badly.

With the nation’s unemployment rate seemingly stuck at 9.1 percent, the pain is spread wide and deep.

Debate as much as you will the proposals President Barack Obama discussed in a speech focused on jobs before a joint session of Congress Thursday night. It’s time to take steps to get the American people who have been so productive and innovative over the centuries into the workplace.

Politics — even with a presidential election next year, approval ratings for the president low and that of Congress even lower — must take a back seat for the common good of America.

“The next election is 14 months away,” Obama told the nation and lawmakers Thursday night. “And the people who sent us here — the people who hired us to work for them — they don’t have the luxury of waiting 14 months. ... They need help, and they need it now.”

There’s no secret about the division in the federal government with the House of Representatives controlled by Republicans and the Senate and presidency in the hands of Democrats.

There were weeks of a threatened government shutdown last spring. Then, during the summer, there was turmoil over what has historically been a routine vote on raising the nation’s debt ceiling. Congress took the same vote 18 times while Ronald Reagan was president and seven times while George W. Bush was president. Both were Republican administrations.

There is no question that the United States faces monumental fiscal challenges that must be addressed over the long term. There will surely be spending cuts and changes to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in the future.

America, though, can neither cut nor spend its way to prosperity.

A healthy job market — where money flows to the treasury and the need for the government’s “safety net” is dramatically decreased — is what makes the United States and its people prosper. Don’t forget, just over a decade ago the country was enjoying an annual surplus.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said it well before Obama’s speech Thursday.

“The No. 1 issue on the minds of West Virginians and all Americans is jobs – how we can keep and create them – and that is where Congress should be laser-focused as well,” Manchin said. “The American people deserve elected leaders whose sole focus is on jobs, jobs, jobs, and it’s time that Congress brings together the best common-sense ideas from both political parties and from both chambers. West Virginians cannot afford for us to wait any longer to act on a jobs plan that will start rebuilding America, create confidence and get people working again.”

Manchin is cosponsoring legislation to create a Joint Select Committee on Job Creation to make specific recommendations on ways to create jobs, foster economic growth and reduce the unemployment rate. The bipartisan committee – whose members would come from both the House and Senate – would help ensure that job creation is at the top of the Washington’s agenda. The Select Committee on Job Creation would have 12 members: six from the House, six from the Senate, evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.

We’re sure to hear many more details and proposals about jobs in the coming days. We hope we’re not being too idealist when we trust our nation’s leaders will place the well-being of America and its people over their prospects in the November 2012 elections.

After all, if the country is working again, those campaigns will take care of themselves.

There are elements of the Obama’s proposals that merit serious consideration.

We also agree with Manchin’s statement following the president’s speech:

“I have made it clear that we must invest in rebuilding America, but the president’s strategy of spending hundreds of billions more in taxpayer dollars to create jobs forces us to ask: What will be different this time? If spending money could fix our jobs problem, it would have been solved long ago – because we’ve sure done our share of spending.”

Let the discussion and problem-solving begin immediately.