How 'liberalism' became a bad word

There are numerous good points in that story, but this one hits home the most, and can be related to Canada:

energy alone won’t win the day. “Being against Bush isn’t a policy. His name
isn’t on the ballot now. The question becomes: `What is the story we have to
tell to the post 9/11 world?’ And how are we as liberals going to make the world
better?”

While Stephen Harper will run again in the next election, the point made here still stands.
It does make sense, to a certain extent, to criticize Stephen Harper, but one thing I disagree with is how many Liberal leadership candidates seem to be running their entire campaigns by being "not Stephen Harper."
That was the Liberals' issue in the last election: They didn't stand for anything except for being against Harper.
People are rarely passionate about not standing for something, they want to support something.
If the Liberal party of Canada hopes to envigorate people, they have to do so by standing FOR something, not just against something.