I think you are correct. I was talking to a young Caldean priest and he was very interested in hearing that some folks in the this Internet chat room I post on are upset by Levada's appointment. The General feeling among the conservative priests I know, at least in this diocese is that Bishop Levada is OK.
It doesn't make any sense that Levada would be considered a conservative and then all of a sudden change his stripes. I would imagine being under Mahoney's metropolitan must be purgatory on earth for a conservative, even a mild one. Not many people are going to cross swords with Roger if they are working right under him. Rog can stir up a hornets nest pretty fast. Levada probably did what he was ordered to do and I would imagine that BXVI knows that.