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Oh wow, that sucks. However, it seems like Poland is a "road-map country" and has been suggested for inclusion numerous times [Source], so I wouldn't be surprised if this policy changes soon. Of course, this probably won't happen until after the global recession since people are generally averse to allowing foreign nationals from higher-unemployment/lower-income easy entry (since they're more likely to overstay the visa). That said. the sitting US president has promised to move for Polish inclusion.

By the way, the reason Poland is not included:
"The technical reason Poland couldn't enter the program was because the rate of refusal of its citizens who apply for visas to the United States was over 10 percent. In other words, too many Poles were judged by American consular officials as a risk for overstaying their visas and becoming illegal immigrants.

Poland is now under the 10 percent threshold -- but the standard was dropped to 3 percent last year after the Department of Homeland Security failed to meet its own deadlines for an unrelated biometric security program."
[Source]

And yes, of course geographic proximity doesn't matter -- I used Canada as an example because they're culturally and linguistically identical, US/Canada share military assets, they have similar per capita incomes, etc. all of which result in significantly easier immigration.

As an addendum: I don't really know of any widespread stereotypes or jokes about Poland in the US. People here are actually fairly apathetic as far as that's concerned and there are millions upon millions of ethnic Poles here. I'll put it this way: Americans can relate more to Poland and would very likely much rather have increased Polish immigration than Asian immigration. The thing is, Asian immigrants coming here are usually extremely well-educated and have employer sponsorships, so no one is going to reject them.

It sucks that it's so difficult to move here from Poland though, especially considering how close our countries are politically. Technically since I was born to a US and a UK citizen (with the former being a US embassy employee) in London, I received dual citizenship and have never really had to deal with any of these issues personally, although many of my childhood friends have. It's really unfortunate how some of us are born luckier than others.

I think he meant "politically close."