I can personally feel the relief myself in my audiences when I bring up Obama because there was a lot of anti-Obama sentiment out there before the capture of bin Laden.
Unless you're trying to make a movie on the sly, there's no way to get around this. If you want to use public spaces, film on the streets, have the cooperation of the police, you have to have a permit.
And you know, when you take on something like this, you read a book like this, you know that it's going to be an adventure. That's part of what draws you to it.

