title: python - compare the date in the string with today's date
body: <p>objective:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>compare the date in the string with today's date</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Issue:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>get this error:ValueError: unconverted data remains:  12:00:00</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>question:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>how do a fix that error</li>
  <li>how do i remove the time element of the string? </li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>Code</p>
  
  <pre><code>from datetime import date
  from datetime import time
  from datetime import datetime
  
  dateTimeStart = "2014-01-01 12:00:00"
  
  def main():
      dateTime1 = datetime.strptime(dateTimeStart, "%Y-%m-%d")
      today = date.today()
  
      if dateTime1 &gt; "today":
          print "No"
  
  if __name__ == "__main__":
    main();
  </code></pre>