diff --git a/vobject/vcard.py b/vobject/vcard.py
index 1941e82..8584e42 100644
--- a/vobject/vcard.py
+++ b/vobject/vcard.py
@@ -4,16 +4,10 @@
 
 from . import behavior
 
-from .base import ContentLine, registerBehavior, backslashEscape, str_
+from .base import ContentLine, registerBehavior, backslashEscape, basestring, str_
 from .icalendar import stringToTextValues
 
 
-# Python 3 no longer has a basestring type, so....
-try:
-    basestring = basestring
-except NameError:
-    basestring = (str, bytes)
-
 # ------------------------ vCard structs ---------------------------------------