Oracle-in-Chief; Tilting Right: No successor can match the role of Greenspan, an archconservative who has become a rare bipartisan icon.(Alan Greenspan)

Byline: Rich Thomas

Alan Greenspan took the traditional pledge to avoid the limelight when he became chairman of the Federal Reserve Board in 1987. He even made a joke of it: "Since I have become a central banker," he cracked, "I have learned to mumble with great incoherence."

Today Greenspan retains a reputation for Delphic utterances, yet he has broken the traditional bounds of the central banker's role, morphing into a national guru on every economic issue of the day. Most remarkable, he is an admired bipartisan figure, despite crystal-clear conservative views. He is an open defender of most of the Bush tax cuts, of attacking the deficit by slashing growth in social programs and of cutting Social Security and Medicare. He also backs the big-business position against reforming the corporate use of stock options. Yet he has won over the Democrats so completely they don't seem to notice. With his retirement in January 2006 required by law, one of the top Washington parlor games of 2005 is whom George W. Bush will appoint to succeed him at the Fed. Clearly, though, no successor will enjoy the same free-ranging role. "He just won't carry Greenspan's weight until he has served as long and as successfully, and he'll surely understand that," says former Fed governor Alice Rivlin.

Greenspan played a big part in tilting America to the right. In 1993 he helped persuade Bill Clinton to halve the $270 billion deficit inherited from George H.W. Bush through severe budget cuts. Greenspan argued that cuts would bring down long-term-bond rates, boosting investment and economic growth. That set the stage for the longest and strongest expansion in U.S. history. A grateful Clinton reappointed Greenspan twice. The Democrats abandoned 200 years of cheap credit and easy budgets and became a party of hard money and balanced budgets--themes that resonated in the John Kerry campaign. "It's a fantastic shift," Greenspan marveled in a recent conversation with a visitor.

Greenspan's broad mandate is in part an outgrowth of changes at the Fed. Starting about 1994, the bank began moving away from its secretive tradition ...