Al Gore bowed out of the 2004 presidential campaign last night, not without incorporating into his remarks a dose of the thoroughly therapized, self-centered baby-boomer babble that makes him so unpopular with so many Americans. “I’ve come to closure on this,” he pronounced.

It’s hard to imagine George W. Bush saying anything like that, ever, which is probably one reason the Texas governor is now president of America and Mr. Gore is teaching at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

But enough Gore-bashing. In fairness, it should be noted that while Mr. Gore was vice president, America reformed welfare, entered into the North American Free Trade Agreement, and cut the capital gains tax. One can argue whether these achievements took place despite him, but there is no arguing that they took place on his watch. As a senator, Mr. Gore was, with his 2000 running mate Jos. Lieberman, among the few Democrats to vote in favor of the Persian Gulf War.

In his 2000 campaign, Mr. Gore lurched to the left, and has continued to do so, sounding a divisive class-warfare theme that depicts the Democrats as the party of the people against the Republicans, the party of the powerful. His departure leaves the field open for Democrats to take up the banner of Bill Clinton at his best — of moving the Democratic Party toward the center with policies that emphasized personal responsibility at home and interventionism abroad.

In this vein, there are some encouraging indicators among the Democratic candidates. Mr. Lieberman “will now run,” Mr. Gore predicted last night. The Nutmeg state senator is distinguished by not only his Gulf War vote but by an openness to President Bush’s program of allowing faith-based charities to compete on a level playing field for government social service spending. Mr. Lieberman had several other centrist positions — openness to school vouchers, skepticism about racial preferences, interest in social security privatization — but he was forced to divest himself of many of them in the course of his 2000 campaign with Mr. Gore. It will be interesting to see if he recovers them in the campaign to come.

There is Rep. Richard Gephardt, the former Democratic leader in the House. Mr. Gephardt has been solidly supportive of Mr. Bush in the war against terrorism and against Iraq. And he has in the past expressed support for tax reforms that would simplify and flatten the tax system.

There is Senator Kerry, who has been touting his vote for welfare reform and his war record as a Vietnam veteran. Governor Dean of Vermont boasts on his Web site that he “has cut the income tax twice” and “removed the sales tax on most clothing.”

Even Rev. Al Sharpton, in a fascinating interview with Joyce Purnick of the New York Times, spoke out last month about some of the cultural problems facing young blacks. “It’s the baggy pants, it’s ‘Did you go to jail?'” Rev. Sharpton told the Times, complaining: “The drive, the ambition, the desire to reach higher goals seem to have been lost in this new generation, particularly of black men.”

In the cold light of a general election campaign against Mr. Bush, much of this may prove to be thin gruel. But at the moment, there’s at least a chance that Mr. Gore’s departure will help move the Democratic Party toward “closure” of the trip into the wilderness to which Mr. Gore let it when he veered left out of Los Angeles.