On trying to find our way back

I find this latest example of Mr Obama's fecklessness almost impossible to believe, so I ran so many Google searches that my computer began to heat up. Here it is, quoted directly from  the New York Times. It's a column by Thomas Friedman, who actually conducted the interview:

Despite Western sanctions, he cautioned, President Vladimir Putin of Russia “could invade” Ukraine at any time, and, if he does, “trying to find our way back to a cooperative functioning relationship with Russia during the remainder of my term will be much more difficult.”

Is he actually inviting the Russian dictator to march into a European nation, annex it the way he did to Crimea, and face no worse punishment than a bit of a struggle to reestablish "a cooperative functioning relationship" with the lame-duck president of the United States?

And why does Mr Obama always seem less interested in the consequences of a crisis for the people concerned than its effect upon his presidency (and, more immediately, upon his golfing vacation at Martha's Vineyard)?