Archbishop Timothy Dolan was just elected President of the USCCB. I suspect his selection is the result of two factors.
First, and foremost, everybody likes and trusts Dolan. That is why he was appointed to New York. He was the only candidate that all the other bishops could agree on.
Second, the attacks on Bishop Kicanas regarding his tenure as a seminary rector scared off enough bishops, along with those who opposed Kicanas because of his connections to the Bernardin "wing" of the hierarchy, to keep him from moving to the top spot.
That second point is a nasty precedent. It is known in the legal profession as the "heckler's veto." But the issue of sex abuse is simply so volatile, I suspect enough bishops who might otherwise have backed Kicanas were scared off at the last minute.
