Don't worry about the gridlock in parliament. Democratic habits are taking hold.

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As President Barack Obama focuses American attention on this month's drawdown of U.S. troops from Iraq, the result of Iraq's last national election remains uncertain. No clear victor emerged when ballots were cast in March, as the opposing blocs of former Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and current Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki won 91 and 89 seats, respectively. No governing coalition has formed in five months of political jockeying, and the Iraqi people are frustrated.

Frustration, however, is not cause for despair. Compared to the tyrannical certainty governing Iran to the east and Syria to the west—and that existed under Saddam Hussein's heinous regime—the democratic wrangling of the new Iraq is a blessed affliction. The Iraqi public is disgusted with poor services and continued parliamentary deadlock, but the passing time has shown that predictions of collapse and violent fragmentation are mistaken.

Iraqis should be proud. Iraq's series of free and fair elections created the foundations of a democratic culture even faster than many optimists thought possible. The March election's aftermath indicates that the new social contract is real and resilient, as Iraqis are using peaceful means to influence their leaders. Iraqi politicians know that the public holds them accountable. Indeed, many privately admit their fear that dithering has cost them dearly. It is refreshing—and almost unprecedented—for Middle Eastern leaders to be genuinely concerned about their popular legitimacy.

Western media have missed this story. When severe power shortages afflicted several cities this summer, Iraqis protested. The electricity minister resigned and Green Zone big shots were denied exemption from rationing. By contrast, when Iraqis faced power outages in the 1990s, Saddam declared public complaints an "act of dissent." Gripe and you risked prison, torture and death.

Saddam is history. Iran's dictators—who continue to arm Iraqi gangsters and al Qaeda remnants—are not. Iran's mullahs fear Iraq's democracy because it gives the Iranian opposition an authentic Middle Eastern model of democratic political action.

Iraqis have successfully thwarted some Iranian troublemakers. Baghdad rumor (reported on Alsumaria TV and elsewhere) has it that Tehran recently stripped Qassem Suleimani, the infamous commander of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, of his Iraq portfolio for his failure to influence Iraqi government formation. So far, Iranian-backed murder and bribery have failed to trump Iraqi democratic aspirations.

The mullahs' threat could be further diminished by a firmer U.S. commitment to Iraqi democracy. Unfortunately, Iraqis perceive a drift in the Obama administration's approach. As a columnist in the respected Arab newspaper Asharq al Awsat wrote on May 16, "The U.S. believes that it will be able to deal with whoever wins and becomes the new leader of Iraq. However a second opinion of the situation is that the Obama administration wants to escape from Iraq, and does not want to get involved, and the only thing it is concerned with is the scheduled troop withdrawal that is set to begin this summer. This would be an appropriate position if there was a possibility for escape!"

The Obama administration stresses the importance of sanctioning Iran but doesn't note that Iraqi democracy is the ultimate sanction on Iran's mullahs. The U.S. is right to insist that it doesn't care who forms Iraq's new government; neutrality is beneficial. But the perception of disengagement is bad. It allows Iranian, Saudi, Syrian and Turkish leaders to bend Iraq to their needs.

Mr. Obama can alter this perception of weakness and apathy. Mr. Maliki and Mr. Allawi may still form a coalition government that would represent an act of communal trust and seal Iraq's democratic future. Mr. Obama should personally clarify that the U.S. commitment to Iraqi democracy is unequivocal.

He should also assure the Iraqi people that the U.S. remains a decisive and reliable ally. The U.S. needs a strong ally in Baghdad to preserve stability in the Gulf. Iraq is the change that creates hope in a region torn by ethnic, religious and historical animosities.

Mr. Nidawi is an Iraqi commentator and political analyst. He blogs at iraqthemodel.blogspot.com. Mr. Bay served with the U.S. Army in Iraq in 2004. He is writing a book for Palgrave Macmillan on Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.