Oh, George W. Bush impersonation -- I'll miss you most of all."

That's how Jon Stewart marked the imminent end of an era on "The Daily Show" last week. In 70 days, comedians across America won't have George W. Bush -- or Dick Cheney or the rest of the Bush administration -- to kick around anymore.

This leaves comedians with the same question that successful political candidates have, the question asked by Robert Redford at the end of "The Candidate": "What do we do now?"

How do comedians make fun of Barack Obama?

George W. Bush gave us Texas swagger, a condescending giggle and fumbled diction ("misunderestimated," anyone?). Bill Clinton gave -- and continues to give -- us the opportunity for good-ol'-boy horndog references.

At least if John McCain had won the White House, comedians could have brushed the dust off their "old man" jokes from the Reagan era. And Sarah Palin, between the downhome accent and the moose hunting, was (and, in 2012, still may be) a rich vein -- just look at Tina Fey did with a beehive wig and a few dropped G's.

Making fun of Barack Obama is more problematic, in part because of all the things he isn't. Bill Maher, riffing on his HBO series "Real Time" before the election, spotted this dilemma: "Here's a guy who's not fat, not cheating on his wife, not stupid, not angry and not a phony. Who needs an a------- like that around for the next four years?"

A lot of Americans -- 52 percent of them, based on the vote tally -- have pinned a lot of their hopes and aspirations on Obama to get us out of our economic morass and our Iraq quagmire. Those voters are not ready, at least not yet, to let anyone speak ill of their national savior.

The list of comedians who can make jokes about Obama being black is limited to comedians who are themselves black. Chris Rock can get away with lines about Obama that Jerry Seinfeld wouldn't dare try, just as Richard Pryor could use certain language that white comics could never say. As far as physical attributes, the only thing Obama gives comics to work with is the way his ears stick out -- and how many jokes can you make about that?

There are two things comics can use as material for Obama-related jokes. One is his supporters (including liberal commentators) and their messianic pronouncements of Obama's infallability.

The other thing is time. Let the day-to-day political arguments drone on, and eventually a President Obama will give us something worth laughing about.

Sean P. Means does the Culture Vulture in daily blog form at blogs.sltrib.com/vulture. Reach him at vulture@sltrib.com.