That's true, however we don't know what would happen if the German people elected somebody contrary to the interests of the US. To this date, no German government has implemented any "independent ideas" that bothered the US. When they tried, like with the NS2, they were warned of the consequences, and ultimately agreed to comply.
Germany or France didn't go to the Iraq war as a part of the "coalition of the willing", and said would vote against it in the UN. If Poland tried doing that to the USSR, there'd be a huge risk of Russian tanks in Warsaw and a government change. In fact, almost all major decisions Polish authorities made had to factor in the risk of Russian backlash and invasion. For example, they decided to institute martial law in 1981 and squash Solidarity, because they the alternative (Solidarity squashed by Russian tanks) would be much more bloody.
