I won't say very many positive things about the Iraq war era, but it was the case that people treated the whole thing with a degree of gravitas, or faux gravitas at least. Sure that was also a part of the marketing myth, and a reason for self-important pundits to gaze at their reflected importance, but there was still the fading notion that going to war was a big deal. People were going to die, and that mattered.
All the cable news NATION AT WAR graphics were toxic in their own way, but at least they acknowledged that it was actually a big deal