Everybody knows by now that nearly 50 years ago Romney bullied a classmate. As an 18-year-old student at an elite all-boys school in a Detroit suburb, Romney led a posse to seek out John Lauber in his dorm, pin Lauber down and then cut off his long, bleached-blond hair. Lauber had been “perpetually teased for his nonconformity and presumed homosexuality,” the Washington Post reported last week, and he screamed for help while Romney did the deed. (Romney apologized last week, but Lauber wasn’t around to hear it. He’s dead.)

Now, a lot of people think the hair-cutting incident shows a major character flaw in the  Republican candidate for president. But a second look at this issue may be warranted. What if Romney is elected and then brings his bullying skills into play in world politics? It could be a good thing. Imagine, for instance, Romney tackling Iranian nut job (officially “president”) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — Romney holding him down and threatening to cut off his hair if he doesn’t lay off Israel. Or how about Kim Jong Un, the newly minted dictator-son of Kim Jong-il? Somebody needs to teach this kid a lesson early, before he starts getting ideas. He’s already got short hair, so maybe Romney could threaten to cut off something else if North Korea conducts any more nuclear tests. (I’m thinking his allowance.)

It’s not only Romney. In middle school, Barack Obama, too, worked on his bullying techniques. A passage from the president’s 1995 book “Dreams From My Father” reveals how, when classmates teased him about a black girl named Coretta, he shouted, “I’m not her boyfriend!” and then gave Coretta “a slight shove.” The shove was forceful enough that “she staggered back,” Obama wrote. “‘Leave me alone!’ I shouted again [as though it was her fault], and suddenly Coretta was running, faster and faster, until she disappeared from sight.” At least Romney picked on another boy.

Bottom line: Skills learned in school can come in handy for a president.