It's sad how badly the concept of "hero" has been twisted over the past half-century or so by some... Yes, that is what a hero is! Someone with the power to change fate, that is what a hero is; not some paladinic personage who sacrifices themselves for the "greater good", which usually is just benefiting a single faction, too. They aren't a villain because they used that power for themselves, or for a different group than yours, either. Genghis Khan is a hero, regardless of if you're a European (descended from those few that survived the Black Death plague that he willingly unleashed upon the populace). Alexander The Great was a hero, regardless of if you were Greek. Julius Caesar was a hero, regardless of if you were Roman (heh).
That said, Usato is a great guy, and definitely the sort of person I'd want to see being a hero.