South Korea’s president’s nickname is awesome!

Bulldozer sounds like a pretty tough nickname, right?

But it’s origin isn’t some drag-down political cock fight but rather a lovely story of intellectual curiosity and ingenuity.

According to a story on Politico, “earlier in his career, Lee completely dismantled and put back together a bulldozer just to figure out how it works.”

The closest story of a US government official impressing me with such intellectual curiosity is that of Richard Cordray, Obama’s nominee to lead the United States Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who appeared on Jeopardy! in 1987. I’d love to use Jeopardy scores to evaluate more government officials. I’d love to see more intellectual curiosity in every aspect of life, but especially those entrusted with governance. Way to go Cordray and Lee Myung-bak!