json - python 2.6 iso datetime parsing error -

in python 2.6, why following code throws "unknown string format" error:

import dateutil.parser import json datetime import datetime dt = dateutil.parser.parse(json.dumps(datetime.now().isoformat())) 

with json.dumps part, input dateutil.parser.parse cannot interpreted:

in [6]: json.dumps(datetime.now().isoformat()) out[6]: '"2013-07-18t12:21:30.278886"' 

however, without json.dumps part works:

in [7]: dateutil.parser.parse(datetime.now().isoformat()) out[7]: datetime.datetime(2013, 7, 18, 12, 21, 56, 894926)