Alternate theory:
Obama is giving Putin everything he promised, now that he has the “flexibility” provided by the election.
The little spat between them is a nice diversion, just like the “drama” of Obama vs. Hillary at the Deomcratic convention, which turned out to be scripted for ratings purposes.
Putin no doubt vetoed Obama’s planned support for the Syrian “rebels” with a phone call. there will be plenty of other areas (mostly involving things we don’t see like intelligence “sharing”) where having the cover of a pretend icy relationship will be important.
But why would Obama support somebody as anti-gay as Putin?
Hmmm. That makes complete sense.