I think that not only do saints make poor role models, they are incapable in one sense of identifying radically with those of us who are mere mortals. Martin Luther King, Jr. 's mortality says to us that here's a figure who got up every day of his life facing tremendous odds and yet overcame them.
When one is not slipshod in small matters, not hypocritical in secret, and not reckless in disappointment, only then is one a true hero.