At the time, Dolan's election to the presidency of the USCCB in 2010 was viewed as a move towards orthodoxy. How could he not be, replacing Kicanas? But Dolan won that election by a vote of 54% to 46%, roughly the same percentage split that we see coming out of Catholics in political elections.
While Dolan might be an improvement over Kicanas, there were other more-conservative bishops who were also in the running. Their wide loss to Dolan (the most conservative, Chaput, only garnered 38% of the vote) told me that the USCCB wasn't moving to the right. My theory in 2010 was that, contrary to prevailing opinions (hopes) at the time, Dolan would out himself as being a political insider and a moderate liberal at best. And here we are!
See how quickly Dolan has turned against Pope Benedict, questioning his honesty:
>>Eighteen months in, do you notice any difference in the way the Vatican works?<<
>>[Dolan]Here’s the change I notice. There seems to be a refreshing honesty that one did not always detect before. These days, when you ask for guidance or for answers on something, officials will say, ‘You know, we’re wondering the same thing. You’re not the first bishop who has asked us this. We do know that the pope has asked us about it, we know it’s under consideration … stay tuned.’<<