I disagree. Look at the difference between how Light is when he has the Death Note, and how he is during the arc where he gives up his memories. They're like two completely different people. Not only that, but after he first used the Death Note, he very nearly threw up with the knowledge that he killed two different people. The Death Note did corrupt him, and I believe it's stated somewhere that "anyone who uses a Death Note will experience misfortune for the rest of their lives."

Light wasn't a terrible person to begin with, just a normal person. The Death Note was just a tainted supernatural object that corrupted the negative qualities that were already inside him, is all. It would have done it to anyone else who used it as he did.