parser vs strptime

b.py

from dateutil import parser                                                                            
from datetime import datetime                                                                          
                                                                                                       
s = "2015-01-01 12:34:56"                                                                              
                                                                                                       
begin = datetime.now()                                                                                 
                                                                                                       
for _ in xrange(10000):                                                                                
    p = parser.parse(s)                                                                                
                                                                                                       
print datetime.now() - begin                                                                           
                                                                                                       
begin = datetime.now()                                                                                 
                                                                                                       
for _ in xrange(10000):                                                                                
    p = datetime.strptime(s, "%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S")                                                      
                                                                                                       
print datetime.now() - begin                                                                           

parser : 0:00:00.868682
strptime : 0:00:00.166018