Obama's threat of "retaliation" is a repeat of Biden's same words from earlier, and Obama and Biden made this threat out of weakness, not strength.
It's a part of the Obama administration's last-ditch effort to "retaliate" against Russia for making the USA appear weak and incompetent (though the USA did that on its own).
The outgoing USA administration has just a month and some days to make good on their word, and the "Russian hacking" claims, as well as the media's fictional and Russophobic portrayal of what has happened in Aleppo, are both parts of this panicked and incompetent "retaliatory" action by the outgoing USA admin.
West-media propaganda against Syria and Russia's work there has largely also been a part of that "retaliation." All anyone has to do to discover that there is a coordinated Western-media propaganda blitz happening right now over the defeat of the rebels in Syria, is google-search "meltdown of humanity."
As Craig Murray said, the *leaks* are from a DNC-insider.